XS" 




Glass. 









POLBTDCAL gpiUMH, 



BY 



WILLIAM H. HANDEY 



OF 



Hagei'stown, Maryland.; 



HAGERS-TOWN: 
PBINTED BY SCHNEBLY 'AND WEIS, 

1842. 






fci. 



District of Maryland) to wit : 

Be it remembered, that on the twentieth day of October, Anise 
Domini, 1842, William H. Handey^ of said district, hath deposited 
in this office the title of a book, the title of which is in the words 
following, to wit: — "Political Equilibrium-, by William H. Handey, 
of Hagerstown, Maryland. " The right whereof he claims as author, 
in conformity with an act of Congress, entitled, "An act to amend 
the several acts respecting copy-rights." 

THOS, SPICER, Clerk of the District. 



THE WRITER 
UBDIOATES THIS WORE 
TO THE . 

FARMERS AND MECHANICS. 

WHOBY THEIR AVOCATIONS 

ARE AS CLOSELY CONNECTED IN INTEREST, 

AS TWIN BROTHERS IN BLOOD 






PREFACE. 



Considering the number of books and periodicals extant, 
treating upon all the various subjects which have present- 
ed themselves to the onward march of minds — many of 
them the productions of authors of the highest order of 
talents, genius, and the greatest weight of moral character 
and philanthropy, aided by classical education, and histori- 
cal research — it may well be questioned whether this addi- 
tion to the countless number, is not uncalled for, and su- 
perfluous. The writer is aware that his meptal faculties 
are ordinary, and that he is deficient in education and ac- 
quirements. Deeply impressed with the force of the fore- 
going considerations, he abandoned his intentions of wri- 
ting a book, after he had nearly completed the first chapter. 
But it subsequently occurred to him that whilst many per- 
sons require meat, others can only subsist upon milk— that 
majestiG rivers are formed by the contributions of small 
tributaries — that the sea is composed of drops, and that the 
earth is composed of particles, many so small that they can 
only be seen* by the aid of a microscope, whilst others 
more minute, can alone be viewed by the eye of reason — . 
that matter and motion are inseparably connected, are com- 
posing and de-composing, producing, and by mutation, re- 
producing. Whilst we can have no conception of the ex- 
istence of mind without a body, every sober-minded man 
must be sensible that mind and matter were united for use- 
ful purposes, which cannot be carried out without an effort. 
The industrious husbandman who prepares and seeds his 
ground in due season, is not certain that he will reap • but 
he knows that if he does not sow, he cannot reap. It is 



▼i. PREFACE. 

then the duty of every rational man to make an effort, in 
proportion to the means within his reach, to add something 
to moral or physical production. Cannot the effort be 
made without vanity, unworthy motives, or arrogant ambi- 
tion, and without questioning the motives of those who 
differ in opinion with the writer? He answers in the affirm- 
ative. 

Aware of human imperfection, from which he is not ex- 
empt — knowing that the Christian and the Mussulman are 
alike sincere in their religious sentiments, each believing 
that he is strictly right, and the other wholly wrong — it isi 
not wonderful that, in the United States, where the mind 
is left free to think and to act, an honest . difference of 
opinion should exist in reference to National and State pol- 
icy. He is aware that it is difficult to convince an intelli- 
gent man that he is in error in reference to long cherished 
principles— that every rational man, without a single ex- 
ception, is governed in all his actions, moral and physical, 
by motives, without which he would be passive and useless 
to himself and to society — that man is not sufficiently per- 
fect to limit his motives of interest or opinion, in all cases, 
to that principle which has an equal tendency to promote 
his own happiness, and the good of those with whom he is 
associated ; he is nevertheless persuaded that neither the 
Christian nor the Mussulman wishes to be misled or de< 
ceived upon any subject whatever. As it is impossible thai 
any well meaning man would intentionally mislead or de- 
ceive others, it would be unreasonable to suppose that alt 
men are governed by unworthy motives; he therefore! 
hopes, that what he has composed and copied, will be read 
without prejudice. 

The writer commenced with a determination to avoid 
any expression calculated to give offence to the reader, to 
which he adhered throughout. But he was deeply im- 
pressed with the fact, that it was as impossible to write as 
to speak without using words, and that the use of unmean- 
ing words, would be a fraud upon his patrons. If the rea- 
der consider any expression offensive or uncalled for, he 
is authorized to withdraw it, with an assurance that it was 
unintentional. If the writer cannot please, he has no de- 



PREFACE, tm. 

sire to offend. He is sensible of the obligations he is un- 
der to the highly respectable and intelligent community in 
which he resides — that many, perhaps all, with whom he 
is acquainted, subscribed for the work, more from motives 
of kindness to the writer, than with the expectation of be- 
ing benefited by perusing it. 

In refering to the measures of political parties, he has 
not impeached the motives of any. In reference to mat- 
ters of fact, he has labored to be strictly correct — to pre- 
sent truth as fairly and fully, as the documents and other 
means within his reach would enable him. If the argu- 
ments advanced, and conclusions drawn are heterodox, 
their refutation is easy, and is invited. 

He is not aware, nor does he believe, that he has advanc- 
ed sentiments or arguments which never suggested them- 
selves to any other person; but he does say that 'the sen- 
timents and arguments, not marked as quotations, are with 
him original, although some of them, in substance, previ- 
ously appeared in print — this explanation is deemed neces- 
sary to protect him from the charge of plagiarism. He has 
given to the political parties the distinctive names they 
claim, for the same reasons that he addresses individuals 
by their proper names and titles. If there are any errors 
in relation to matters of fact, they are unintentional, and 
attributable to the limited means within his reach, to refer 
to documents, and to the fact that he had no aid in writing 
or compiling. With these introductory remarks he intro- 
duces the reader to the "Political Equilibrium." 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 



CHAPTER I 

On different forms of government, with miscellaneous observations, 

Party names are not only convenient, but indispensable. 
We might as well undertake to dispense with the names of 
individuals, as with the names of political parties. "Stick 
to your party," is a term frequently used by politicians with- 
out any qualification whatever; and sometimes with powerful 
effect. It is not the writer's intention to impeach the mo- 
tives of all who avail themselves of the force of a party name 
to elect their ticket, or to use language calculated to give 
offence to the most sensitive mind. It matters not whether 
the name of one's neighbor is Cain or Abel. If mother 
Eve had named her first born Abel and her second son 
Cain, it is certain wicked Abel would have murdered right- 
eous Cain. There was nothing murderous in the name of 
either brother; the sanguinary disposition was in the man y 
not in the name. Individuals are to be judged by their 
words and acts, not by their names ; and invariably ought 
the same rule to be applied to political parties. The oath 
which a representative takes, to support the constitution, 
is, or ought to be, equally as binding upon him to support 
the general good and public welfare without regard to party 
names. The writer has long entertained and frequently 
expressed the opinion, that a politician who is not govern- 
ed by the dictates of reason and the teachings of experi- 
ence, with the single object to the general welfare and the 
attainment of the greatest earthly blessings and benefits, 
acts ungratefully towards the Creator, who bestowed upon 
him the principle of reason, and a bodily form suited to 
intelligence, and both intended to enable him to protect 



10 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

and enjoy his natural and acquired rights, and secure to 
those with whom he is associated the same blessings. — 
That form of government which produces the greatest 
amount of human happiness and independence, with the 
lightest burthen and pressure, is preferable to any other; 
but no form of government can secure to us our natural 
and acquired rights and render us prosperous and happy, 
unless honestly administered. No government can be 
faithfully administered unless it originates in, and is car- 
ried out by, the dictates of reason, jnstice and the teach- 
ings of experience. If these guides fail, in vain may we 
look to party for relief. Man is more or less governed in 
his transactions, political and civil, by his Will or his 
Judgment. If these two principles come in opposition 
to each other, he can never act morally wrong by being 
governed bv his judgment, and never in such a contest 
can he act right if governed by his Will. 

"The political writers of antiquity, 55 says Blackstone, 
"will not allow more than three regular forms of govern- 
ment ; the first, when the sovereign power is lodged in an 
aggregate assembly, consisting of all free members of a 
community, which is called a democracy ; the second, 
when it is lodged in a council, composed of select mem- 
bers, and then it is styled an arristocracy •, the last, when 
it is entrusted in the hands of a single person, and then it 
takes the name of a monarchy. All other species of gov- 
ernment, they say, are either corruptions of, or reducible 
to, these three." 

When we take into consideration that most of the regu- 
lar governments upon earth, and all of ancient standing 
and magnitude,* are monarchical or aristocratic, the irre- 
sistible conclusion is, that all governments naturally incline 
to aristocracy, or monarchy. Ambitious man is more gener- 
ally influenced by his will, than by his judgment ; in pro-, 
portion as he gains power 3 he loses sight of right. His 

*Thc French Revolution only broke the chain in an ancient he- 
reditary form of government. The short duration of the French 
Republic, commenced with the termination of the reign of one 
king — was followed by an emperor, anu terminated in restoring the 
government to its former line. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 11 

ambitious will connected with a political party, becomes 
daily more active and determined, until his judgments are 
overwhelmed, and he sinks or swims with his party ; and 
will only yield to the superior numbers of an opposing 
one which may be influenced by no better principles than 
his own. 

From the formation of our Republic to the present day, 
the people have been, (with the exception of a short peri- 
od, commencing towards the close of Mr. Monroe's first 
presidential term,) divided into two great political parties; 
in both of which there are, and always have been, subdi- 
visions, so nearly equal in numbers, as to leave the two 
chief parties to attack and repel each other with a violence 
not perceivably broken by the subdivisions in the arms of 
either of the political beligerants. During the violent and 
bitter struggles between the two great contending parties, 
it is reasonable to suppose that each occasionally did the 
other injustice; and that by the triumph of one of them, 
sound and wholesome principles were occasionally sacri- 
ficed. The spread of intelligence, and the onward inarch 
of mind, may, and it is hoped will, define the leading prin- 
ciples upon which parties will split. They are inseparably 
connected with a Republican form of government : it is as 
impossible that one can exist without the other, in a wide 
extended country, as it is impossible that mind can exist 
without a body. 

In the political parties which have heretofore existed, 
there always were in each, and it is to be believed there ever 
will be found, men of the highest order of intellectual fac- 
ulties, patriotic principles, and able statesmen possessing 
the proper qualifications to discharge the duties of the va- 
rious and necessary stations connected with our represent- 
ative democratic form of government. That there have 
been prominent party demagogues, will not be denied by 
any candid man, who is intelligent upon the subject. Un- 
der a government like ours, which leaves the human mind 
free to think and to act, with no legal restraints, except 
such as come under the general heads of felony, breach of 
the peace, misdemeanor and trespass, the demagogue and 
the statesman will occasionally come into collision, and the 



12 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

former may triumph. The greatest, perhaps the only secu- 
rity we have for the continuance and purity of our demo- 
cratic form of government, rests with the body of the peo- 
ple, or with that portion who neither seek nor desire office. 
They constitute a large majority in this and in every other 
country, and are the working and producing classes; and 
if they should ever become corrupt, or should be misled 
and deceived by demagogues, our Republican form of gov- 
ernment would be in danger, and could only be preserved, 
by a return to sound principles and correct views on the 
part of the people. 

There is an unlimited confidence, in the integrity and 
purity of intention of the body of the people of the United 
States, and especially in that large and useful portion, that 
desire the welfare of their country rather than the spoils 
of a victorious partyism* In a political point of view, they 
are honest ; but purity of intention does not always afford 
absolute security against the designs of demagogues and 
tyrants. It is adverse to the interest of the working class 
to be politically dishonest, and consequently that class will 
never knowingly be politically wrong or act from improper 
motives. Industry is as certainly the parent of moral and 
political honesty as is idleness the parent of vicious habits 
and crime. It may here be remarked, that such are the in- 
dustrious habits of a large majority of the working class — 
particularly in the non-slaveholding states — that they sel- 
dom rest from their labor, except on the Sabbath, or when 
from necessity they repose in sleep. Consequently this 
class must possess less political and useful information than 
that who devote most of their time to reading, travelling 
and io conversational intercourse. It follows, then, that 
the latter class must necessarily posess an advantage over 
the former in point of intelligence ; and which enables 
ihem to act with a power so great, as frequently to mislead 
pnd fleece the majority. To the unholy use of this ad- 
vantage, more than to any other cause, may be traced the 
origin of all aristocratic and monaichial form.s of govern- 
ment; and the special attention of the reader is asked to the 
consideration of the question : How is this to be remedied ? 
Are the human family to withdraw from the cultivation of 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 12 

the earth to acquire knowledge by reading and discussion ? 
Certainly not. But as government is indispensible to sup- 
port our natural and acquired rights, and as government 
cannot be supported without revenue, every man, in pay- 
ing a tax, surrenders a portion of his property for the pro- 
tection of the remainder, and for the security of his rights ; 
and ought he not to devote a reasonable portion of his time 
for the purpose of acquiring knowledge, St acquainting him- 
self with the measures of those who are entrusted with the 
reins of government ? In all forms of government, power 
is vested in the hands of the jew, whose ambition to con- 
tinue in office and rule over the many, has a tendency to 
intrigue and corruption. Tt therefore requires vigilance 
and intelligence on the part of the constituency, to watch 
their public servants, examine their measures, with a view 
to prevent them from changing their relative position from 
that of public servants to that of political masters. The 
following extract from the first annual address of the Father 
of his country, will commend itself; first, from the source 
from which It is derived, and secondly, from the sentiments 
expressed. 

"Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me in 
opinion, that there is nothing which can better deserve 
your patronage than the promotion of science and litera- 
ture. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of 
public happiness. In one in which the measures of gov- 
ernment receive their impressions so immediately from the 
sense of the community as in ours, it is proportionably es- 
sential. To the security of a free constitution it contrib- 
utes in various ways : by convincing those who are entrust- 
ed with the public administration, that every valuable end 
of government, is best answered by the enlightened confi- 
dence of the people*, and by teaching the people them- 
selves to know and value their own rights ; to discern and 
provide against invasions of them ; to distinguish between 
oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority; 
between burdens proceeding from a disregard to their con- 
venience, and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies 
of society; to discriminate the spirit of liberty, from that 
of licentiousness, cherishjjqg the first ; avoiding the last, and 



14 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

uniting a speed) 7 but temperate vigilence against encroach- 
ments, with an inviolable respect to the laws." 

If the means recommended by the father of his country 
were necessary to preserve the integ ity and purity of the 
government at the period of its organization, by a union of 
wisdom arfd valor, unsurpassed in awy age or nation, is not 
an adherence to the sentiments advanced, necessary at this 
and ail future periods. For more than forty years, every 
Presidential contest, with one exception, has been decided 
by drawing the party line; and measures have frequently 
been lost sight of, or misrepresented in the bitterness in 
which the parties have assailed and repelled each other. — 
The extract contains more good sense than could be found 
in a volume of party and inflammatory speeches, which 
have been delivered in Congress in support of party, with- 
out even a reference to the public good. Every unpred- 
judiced and attentive reader of the debates in Congress, 
for a number of years past, must have observed, that the 
speeches have generally been in support of one party and 
in derogation of another. Instead of attempting to gain 
the confidence of the people by wise and wholesome meas- 
ures, the object was to rally them in party strife. Jf the 
people objected to a measure and assigned reasons for their 
opposition to it, they were told that it was a leading and 
high party measure and they were called upon to support it 
upon that principle. How different in character and spirit 
were the debates in Congress during the Revolution and in 
the Convention which formed the Constitution. Different 
opinions among the members of those bodies, created an 
honest enquiry and led to an impartial examination of the 
different sentiments expressed ; and with the single pur- 
pose of promoting the general good. Mr. Jefferson in his 
Notes on Virginia, written towards the close of the Revo- 
lution, uses this language. 

"From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down 
hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment 
to the people for support. They will be forgotten, there- 
fore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget them- 
selves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will 
never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 15 

Tho shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at 
the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long— will be 
made heavier and heavier, till our rights r shall revive or ex- 
pire in a convulsion." 

The predictions of Mr. Jefferson have been fulfilled to 
an alarming extent. We have several times been on the 
verge of dissolution. . 

The writer's political principles were formed at an early 
period of life and he is not aware that they have undergone 
a shadow of change. They are democratic so far as dem- 
ocratic principles are practicable in all the branches of the 
government, except only the Judiciary. He not only pre- 
fers a democratic form of government to any other, but 
considers it the only rational form of government upon 
earth. A government strictly democratic, would not be 
convenient and scarcely practicable in a territory as large 
and populous as Washington county; and wholly imprac- 
ticable for the state of Maryland, or the Union. Because, 
it would do away the representative feature, and require all 
the voters to assemble in council and pass all laws by a 
majority of the whole body of voters; and the same is re- 
lated to repealing or amending previous laws. — They would 
be impracticable except in a very small community-, and, 
if attempted to be carried out in a large one, would pro- 
duce confusion and anarchy, and reduce the whole to a 
state of chaos. Some men, no doubt well disposed, seem 
to think that democracy has a direct reference to mild, just 
and equitable laws, — that democracy and equity are sy- 
nonymous terms, and travel side by side, like those united 
by the ties of mutual affection and the laws of matrimony. 
But there would be as much sense in saying that because 
marriage is a divine, holy and honorable institution, — sanc- 
tioned and recommended by all civilized nations, that all 
who are married must live in unalloyed happiness, striving 
for the equal benefit and comfort of each other, — as to say 
that all laws enacted and carried out by a democratic form 
of government, with or without the representative feature, 
would secure equal benefits and blessings to all, and place 
the minority on an equality with the majority. A demo- 
cratic form of government, can only be carried out practi- 



16 FOLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

cally by the majority ruling ; and all laws enacted by the 
majority must be laws of the derrfocracy — the democracy is 
the majoiity and the majority is the democracy. A democ- 
racy may proscribe and oppress the minority as much as any 
other form of government whatever. Under a democratic 
form and administration of government, laws might be en* 
acted providing that every deformed infant and every male 
who on arriving at lawful age did not measure a specified 
height should be put to death. If such laws were passed 
and carried into effect in their fullest extent by the major- 
ity, they would be the laws of the democracy. If it be ask- 
ed if such laws would be consistent with the spirit of de- 
mocracy, the answer is that the true meaning and spirit of 
democracy is that the will of the majority, (not the minor- 
ity) shall rule whether it be in blood or in mercy. Democ- 
racy doos not even provide for uniformity of laws. Every 
State in the Union is under a democratic form of goverment 
retaining the representative feature; and yet in no two 
states are the laws alike, and in some, (perhaps in most of 
them) they are not uniform throughout the State. In Wash- 
ington and some other couuties in Maryland, the cutting 
and carrying away of hoop-poles, by any person not the 
o«vner of the land is a penitentiary offence ; and there has 
been in the neighboring county of Frederick, at least one 
conviction under this law; — in other counties in this State 
it is a mere trespass, for which the owner can only recover 
on a civil suit for damages. In no two counties in Mary- 
land, it is believed, are the laws uniform throughout. 

Mr. Jefferson uses the following language in his first In- 
augural address: — 

"I know indeed that some honest men fear that a repub- 
lican government cannot be strong — that this government 
is not strong enough. But would the honest patriot, in the 
full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government 
which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and 
visionary fear, that this government, the world's best hope, 
may, by posibility, want energy to preserve itself; — I trust 
not — I believe this, on the contrary to be the strongest gov- 
ernment on earth — I believe it the only one, where every 
man, at the call of the law, would fry to the standard of the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. i? 

law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his 
own personal concern." 

With deference to the opinions of Mr. Jefferson, my own 
observation, for more than thirty years, has impressed upon 
my mind that a republican form of government is either 
the weaker or is less energetic in the use of its means to 
preserve its laws, and quell insurrections and internal com- 
motions, than any other form of government — that its ma- 
terials for self preservation and self destruction are 
nearly balanced, and to speak figuratively it is more likely 
to expire by suicide than in any other way. The legally 
constituted laws have been forcibly resisted ; groups of one 
or two thousand men have been seen in the day time delib- 
erately pulling down houses and destroying the furniture', 
we have had insurrections', and how have they been met 
and subdued? Proclamations accompanied by pardons to 
ail those who would desist and respect the constituted laws 
— the military have been called out and marched into the 
territories in which the insurgents had successfully resist- 
ed the laws — the sword presented in one hand and a pardon 
in the other. A few persons have been arrested and im- 
prisoned as the ring leaders of mobs and rebellions, yet 
we have never had a conviction for treason and few have 
been in any way punished for forcibly resisting the laws. 
While some have termed those violent measures and pros- 
tration of law and order, mobocracy and rebellion, others 
have termed them democratic associations, patriotically ta- 
king the law into their own hands with a view of redressing 
a real or supposed injury or repealing an obnoxious law 
without the aid of the Legislature. Under some forms of 
government such democratic movements would be subdued 
by shooting or hanging. If an individual is convicted 
of rubbing a hen-roost or pig-sty he is sent to the Peniten- 
tiary; but if a mob pulls down a house and destroys the 
furniture, the leaders are generally pardoned and the rest 
considered misguided citizens, by some, and by others, 
ihe democracy acting independent of law. 

In the foregoing it is utterly and truly disclaimed by the 
writer that there is any allusion or application to either of 
the great political parties into which the people are divided, 
B 



18 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 

Likewise is it truly denied that the foregoing remarks apply 
to any political party which ever existed in the U. States* 
The body of the people are, and ever were, democratic in 
their principles, The powerful party who once called 
themselves Jacksonians, and claimed no other name, were 
as democratic at that time as they now are under their new 
title. That there always were in every political party which 
has existed since the formation of government, demagogues 
and agitators, no doubt can be entertained. Such charac- 
ters can act with more effect under a republican form of 
government than under any other. 

Our republican form of government would be as strong, 
if not stronger, in a war with a foreign nation than any oth- 
er form. Because, in addition to national patriotism, eve- 
ry man would be desirous to preserve our political institu- 
tions, and in the language of Mr. Jefferson — u every man, 
at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, 
and would meet invasions of the public order as his own 
concern." In a war between two nations, one under a re- 
publican and the other under an aristocratic or monarchial 
form of government, victory on the part of the latter, would 
be to continue the monarchial yoke and rivet it more firm- 
ly on the necks of the mass of the people : whereas, defeat 
might deliver them from bondage and bestow upon them 
the blessing of a free government and its attendant benefits. 
Under a democratic form of government the human mind 
is left free to think and act, and in proportion as the men- 
tal faculties are developed, the people become more divided 
in matters of opinion, and in their ambition and energy to 
support their opinions, they become excitable. And there 
ever will be demagogues and Jacobins who will act upon 
the excitable matter, and labour to fan it into a flame, re- 
gardless of consequences or desirous to obtain office. 

If ever our republican form of government be dissolved, 
(which heaven forbid,) it will proceed from internal com- 
motion, produced by agitators who will labour to inflame 
the public mind, prevent dispassionate reason and argument 
to act; produce passion and prejudice; array one portion of 
the country against another and produce a dissolution of 
the Union. As to the United States ever being conquered 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 19 

Iby any foreign nation or combination of foreign power?, if 
not wholly impossible, is so improbable as to leave nothing 
to fear from foreign nations; but if the confederacy should 
ever be divided, and separate and distinct governments cre- 
ated, one at a time might be engaged in war with one or 
more European nations; or the separate nations formed out 
of our Union might be at war with each other. Let us sup- 
pose that our federal head should, by the mutual consent 
of all the states, be decapitated, and the public property 
owned by the confederacy equally divided among the sev- 
eral states in proportion to population. Each State would 
then be a separate and sovereign nation; but would not 
the sovereignty and independence of all be in danger? One 
of the most powerful of the European nations might con- 
quer and colonize one ot the largest American nations, or 
from internal commotion it might be drenched in blood; 
and the fate of one State would be a presage to the fate of 
all. In the foregoing he has supposed that each State, on 
becoming a sovereign and independent nation, retained its 
democratic form of government. Its excitable matter and 
its demagogues would therefore be in proportion to its pop- 
ulation, and its organs of self destruction would be opera- 
ted upon by political Phrenologists, who would labour to 
prove the truih of the science of phrenology. 

But whilst we are united by the Constitution to our fed- 
eral head, we will at all times unite as do the feet and hands 
in locomotion and labour, and at the call of the general 
government march, fight and expel from our shores foreign 
invaders. Although war is to be deprecated, and although 
it would be a blessing if the principles of Quakerism were 
immovably planted in the breast of every human being, and 
pass to posterity; nations and individuals must be viewed 
as they really are, and not as they ought to be. The in- 
ternal commotions, and increased violent resistance to the 
regularly constituted laws, must be considered with awful 
forebodings by every intelligent and unprejudiced man who 
has seriously weighed the subject in his mind. What 
would be the consequence if all laws throughout a State 
were suspended for twenty-four hours, and no one ever 
afterwards to be responsible for his transactions during that 
B2 



20 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

period? Can any sober-minded man doubt lhat that day 
would be characterized by rapine, murder, carnage and 
brutal violence, at the contemplation of which every well 
regulated mind would sicken. Although laws enacted by 
the impartial wisdom of a state or nation, and with the sin- 
gle object of promoting the gensral good and public wel- 
fare, may? in some respects, have an unequal bearing; yet, 
in the language of president Jackson, in his second annual 
message: "It is beyond the power of man to make a system 
of government like ours, or any other, operate with precise 
equality upon states situated like those which compose this 
confederacy; nor is inequality always injustice. — 
Every state cannot expect to shape the measures of the gen- 
eral government to suit its own particular interest. The 
causes svhich prevent it are seated in the nature of things, 
and cannot be entirely counteracted by human means. — 
Mutual forbearance becomes, therefore, a duty obligatory 
upon all; and we may, I am confident, count upon a cheer- 
ful compliance with this high injunction on the part of our 
constituents. It is not to be supposed that they will object 
to make such comparatively inconsiderable sacrifices for 
the preservation of rights and privileges, which other less 
favored portions of the world have in vain waded through 
seas of blood to acquire." 

President Jackson said many wise things, and the writer 
stands among those who admire his maxims, and disapprove 
of some cf his measures, without questioning his motives. 
The bearing which the laws of Congress has upon the states, 
is similar to the bearing of the laws of a state upon indi- 
viduals; and if inequality existed in some cases it might not 
be ^injustice," but wholly attributable to local causes or 
sectional feeling which no human laws could remove. — 
Our democratic form of government presents the anomaly 
of want of strength or energy to cause its internal laws to 
be respected, or to punish those who violently resist them 
and endanger life and liberty; but strength, energy and valor 
proportioned to the numbers to contend with a foreign foe. 
Proof of this was given during the late war with Great 
Britain. A powerful minority was opposed to the declar- 
ation cf lhat war, and the opposition to it increased, until 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 51 

the enemy captured Washington, destroyed the Capitol and 
other public property. That event caused the people to 
unite throughout the Union in support of the war; party 
spirit was buried in patriotism and valor; both parties fought 
shoulder to shoulder, emulated by the single principle of 
eclipsing each other in soldiery and daring enterprize: the 
national pride and physical strength of the nation were de- 
veloped in proportion to the pressure upon it, and the star- 
spangled banner was never struck on land or sea to an equal 
force. The following sentiment by Commodore Decatur, 
a federalist, was responded to by acclamation throughout 
the Union as applicable to a state of war: — 

"My country — in her intercourse with foreign nations, 
may she be right; and may she be successful right or wrong." 

The success of our arms by sea and land and the united 
determination of the nation to support the war, until an 
honorable peace could be obtained, hastened a return of 
that desirable object, and the moral and physical effect of 
that war upon the nation, may be compared to the effect 
of a thunder-storm upon the atmosphere, which renders it 
more pure and healthy. The result of the late war with 
England developed the strength of a democratic form of 
government to assert and cause its rights to be respected 
by foreign nations; and whilst we hold the olive branch of 
peace and friendly intercourse, upon just principles, in one 
hand, and the sword of resistance in the other, our rights 
will never be trampled upon with impunity by foreign pow- 
ers. In the appropriate language of Mr. Jefferson, we shall 
m a contest with a foreign nation be "all republicans, 
all federalists." And in the language of Gen. Jackson 
in his letter to President Monroe, dated January 6, 1817, 
Niles' Register, vol. 26, page 167 — "party names of them- 
selves, are but bubbles, and sometimes used for the most 
wicked purposes." 

The remark that party names are "sometimes used for 
the most wicked purposes," was at that time appropriate, 
has subsequently been, and may be again. Mr. Monroe 
had just been elected by a party vote. At the presidential 
election of 1816. just after the conclusion of the late war, 
the republicans and federalists were bitterly arrayed against 



22 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. , 

each other, but Mr. Monroe was elected by a large majori- 
ty, which was the last contest between the two old repub- 
lican and federal parties for the presidency. Gen. Jack- 
son, discriminating between party names and principles, 
recommended Col. Drayton, a talented federalist as a sui- 
table character for Secretary of War, and approved of the 
appointment of John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State. 
Page 168. Mr. Adams, it is known, formerly belonged to 
the federal party; but withdrew in 1807, and was afterwards 
denounced by them generally. After he withdrew from 
the federal party he was appointed by Mr. Madison minis* 
ter to Russia, and continued at the Russian court until Mr. 
Monroe was elected president, when he was appointed by 
Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State, which appointment was 
highly approved of by Gen. Jackson, as will appear on ref- 
erence to the page and volume referred to. Gen. Jackson 
when he came into power acted in accordance with his 
recommendation to Mr. Monroe, and in making selections 
for his cabinet, foreign ministers, the judiciary, and other 
important stations, he was mindful of that portion of the 
ultra federal party, who were as zeaious in support of his 
election, as they were bitter in their opposition to the ad- 
ministrations of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison. Messrs. 
Buchanan, Louis McLean, Taney, Wilkins, Balwin and 
many other federalists, of the first order of intelligence and 
prominence, were placed in the highest offices in his gift. 
His party consisted of those who supported him; and his 
administration was intellectual and personal — not po- 
litical, as related to republicans and federalists, as parties 
had previously arranged themselves. The reader will draw 
his conclusions from the facts which are stated — the mo- 
tives of General Jackson, or those who supported him, are 
not called in question. 

For years past a strong and increasing disposition has been 
manifested to elect, by the popular voice and direct vote 
of the people, independent of, and without the agency of 
the Legislature, all civil and military officers; all persons 
having power and authority, or the exercise of any privilege 
not possessed by each and every individual. It is earnestly 
submitted to the serious, unprejudiced and solemn consicU 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 23 

eration of every man, whether the principles contended 
for, if carried out, would not weaken the maral, political 
and physical power of the mass oj the people: lessen the 

SECURITY FOR LIFE, LIBERTY, THE FURSUIT OF HAPPINESS 
AND THE RIGHT TO ACQUIRE AND POSSESS PROPERTY. 

Might not the frequency of popular elections, the vast 
number of persons to be elected by the popular voice, be 
carried to a ruinous extreme? Is there no wholesome me- 
dium? no equilibrium? no checks and balances? no appoint- 
ing power necessary? These questions are worthy of the 
serious consideration of every man in the nation. It 
will be admitted by all that knowledge is progressive; or 
that it is only acquired by the exercise of our senses. Why, 
then, is it necessary that the federal government and each 
state government should be bound by a written Constitu- 
tion, and every civil and military officer bound by an oath 
or affirmation to support it before he enters upon his duty — 
if the people can at all times secure their natural and ac- 
quired rights, and preserve order and harmony by a direct 
appeal to the ballot boxes? If it be said that the Consti- 
tution of every state in the Union provides means for amend- 
ments, o*- that the right to amend or abolish one Constitu- 
tion, and form another, is inherent in the people, the ques- 
tion then presents itself, why not exercise the right at every 
popular election, untramrneled by a previous Constitution? 
The only correct answer which suggests itself to the mind 
cf the writer — and which is 1 of more than thirty years stand- 
ing — is this: that a convention chosen by the people for the 
exclusive purpose of framing a Constitution for the gov- 
ernment and protection of themselves and posterity, would 
act with more deliberation, impartiality and sound judg- 
ment than an excited or infuriated populace, divided into 
political parties, and labouring to defeat each other at the 
polls, with the ultimate object of turning one party out of 
office and putting another in. It, therefore, becomes nec- 
essary to have a Constitution to be alike binding on every 
party. 

It has often been said that the more simple the construc- 
tion of a machine, or the forms of government, the better. 
Both must be taken in a qualified sense — avoiding the ex- 



?A POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

treme in both cases. If we fall short or go beyond an 
equilibrium, the machine or the form of government will 
be more or less imperfect. A machine cannot be too sim- 
ple, provided it answers the purposes for which it was in- 
tended, and leaves no room for amendment Just so with 
the forms of government. Now, for the sake of argument, 
suppose that the more simple the parts of a machine, or the 
forms of government, the better. It then follows that a 
sled or sledge, being more simple than a wagon or any 
wheel carriage, is preferable at all seasons of the year, and 
that the invention of wheel carriages has been injurious. — 
Next to a simple form of government, an absolute monar^ 
chy is certainly the most simple form of government upon 
earth, or of which we can have any conception; and is, at 
the same time, the most unreasonable and unjust; because 
it concentrates all power and authority at the disposal of 
one man. And as he cannot govern a nation by consent 
of the governed, he entrenches himself by military powers 
and governs by an iron arm of despotism; not by the force 
of reason or moral means; and preserves and strengthens 
his simple and despotic form of government by enforcing 
obedience to his will. Those appointed by the monarch 
to carry out his edicts, will never fail to have sufficient in- 
ducements to obey his will in the affluent situations in 
which he places them; and those who hold the sword and 
the purse never govern by moral means — the purse and 
the sword will supersede reason and argument. 

No principles are too sacred for examination, or too holy 
to be understood, Man may discover the fundamental 
principles which govern the planetary system, but he can- 
not create or change them. The great principles which 
govern it, must be as old as matter, and must have existed 
before the organization of the universe. By the applica- 
tion of immutable laws, matter in a state of chaos, was 
moulded into revolving worlds. The mechanical order 
and harmony which prevail throughout the planetary sys- 
tem, present to the mind the propei application and effect 
of attraction and repulsion, gravity, checks and balances^ 
so graduated as to produce an equilibrium and give motion 
and harmony to matter for wise purposes. The conclusion 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 25 

is arrived at, if the writer may use the expression, that 
the planetary system is governed by a constitution which, 
if dissolved, the planets would rush together with a violence 
which would reduce them to their original state of chaos) 
— or they would fly off in straight lines with a velocity 
which would presently separate them so far from each other 
as to deprive them of light and heat. As it is self evident 
to every intelligent and enquiring man, that the order and 
harmony which prevail throughout the motions of the hea- 
venly bodies — some turning in fixed orbits with a velocity 
of many thousand miles per hour, whilst others turn on 
their axis only-are produced by a combination of principles, 
so applied as to produce an equilibrium extending through- 
out the whole planetary system, does not the human fam- 
ily require constitutions and laws to govern them? If, then, 
inanimate matter, which is destitute of intelligence, can- 
not be trusted without being subjected to a code of statute 
laws, checks and balances, to produce and preserve order 
and harmony, are not checks and balances necessary to 
produce and preserve order and harmony among men who 
are versatile — governed by their will or their judgment? 
The first is generally selfish and founded in interested 
motives, and the latter is frequently imperfect. To pre- 
serve, then, order, harmony, and uniformity in the princi- 
ples and forms of government, and laws, throughout a 
state or nation, it is necessary that the whole body of voters 
should speak and act through legislative bodies, composed 
of representatives chosen by them at the polls. As it would 
be impracticable for the democracy, i. e , the body of voters, 
even in one of the smallest states, to meet in mass, and 
form themselves into a legislative body, the representative 
principle then suggests itself as the only alternative in a 
democratic form of government. If the representatives 
from any county of a state, or section of a nation, brought 
with them a disposition to oppress the minority who oppos- 
ed their election, and who might have been influenced by 
principles and motives as correct and wholesome, or even 
more so, than those who voted for them, they could not 
carry out their selfish and unholy intentions, without ob- 
taining the vote of a majority of both branches of the Leg- 



26 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

islature. This could seldom, if ever, occur; and human 
wisdom cannot devise means so well calculated to prevent 
a majority from oppressing a minority, as is presented by 
the representatives of the people chosen by themselves — 
formed into two legislative bodies, and requiring a majori- 
ty in each branch to pass each and every law, no matter 
how local in its bearing. Add to all this, any law passed 
by the Legislature may peaceably be submitted to the Judi- 
cial investigation as to its constitutionality. If government, 
thus organized, is too complex, can it be simplified and 
improved by choosing all civil and military officers, or per- 
sons vested with authority, by the direct vote of the people 
over whom they are to preside? (Reader, pause and reflect! 
Respect for your intelligence and purity of intention, for- 
bids a minute discussion and illustration of every sentiment 
and principle advanced. And the writer fears that he 
may have the appearance of underrating your intelligence 
and reasoning faculties, by too much argument. Such is 
his taste for brevity and respect for your understanding, as 
to impress upon his mind the propriety of expressing him- 
self in as few words as his imperfect knowledge of language 
wiil allow him.) 

But the question has been frequently asked, are not the 
people as competent to choose the minor officers of gov- 
ernment and all those connected with it, executive and ju- 
dicial, as they are to choose the president and vice president 
of the United States? He answers that, upon abstract prin- 
ciples, they are equally competent in either, or in any case. 
The people are of right the sovereigns and the only legit- 
imate source of power; and it is their solemn duty to ex- 
ercise it in a way best calculated to preserve their sover- 
eignty, and secure their natural and acquired rights, with 
the least inconvenience; to do which, organized govern- 
ment is indispensable. But one president, only, can serve 
at a time, and he presides over the Union, with limited and 
defined powers. He is chosen through the intervention 
of electors, who are elected by a general ticket in every 
state in the Union, except South Carolina, in which the 
electors are chosen by the Legislature. Gen. Jackson pro- 
posed an amendment to the Constitution so as to choose the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 27 

President without the intervention of electors, preserving 
the same relative votes in the states. The writer has but 
one objection to that mode, which he will state with defer- 
ence to the opinion of Gen. Jackson. Suppose that just 
on the eve of the election one of the candidates for the 
presidency should die, but his death not be known beyond 
the neighborhood or district in which he resided, until 
after the close of the election throughout the Union, which 
might be on the same day: suppose, secondly, that an over- 
whelming majority of all the 'voters and of the states had 
been cast for the deceased candidate, in such a case the 
will of the people would be defeated; and, unless a Con- 
stitutional provision was made for such a contingency, the 
consequence might be serious. But, through the agency of 
electors, the will of the people could be so far carried out 
as to choose for president an individual entertaining the 
same sentiments and principles of the deceased candidate. 
Again: one of the candidates for the presidency might die, 
a week or two before the election, in time for his death to 
be known to every voter before a vote was cast, but not in 
time for the friends of the deceased to select and agree 
upon a candidate, and in which case the seniiments an d 
principles of an overwhelming majority might be defeate d, 
and a small minority succeed in electing a President . — 
That no such case as the writer has supposed, has taken 
place, is no evidence that such a case never will occur. 
Should our political institutions be preserved through time, 
it is more than probable, almost certain, that just such a 
case as is supposed will occur. The amendme nt proposed 
by Gen. Jackson, would, if it had been adopted, have consti- 
tuted a change in the Constitution, but not a reform. The 
amendment proposed could not be productive of any good, 
but might be productive of great inconvenience and mis- 
chief. The writer frequently expressed his admiration of 
many, not all, of the maxims and recommendations of 
president Jackson, but his recommendation of an amend- 
ment of the Constitution in relation to the election of 
president and vice president, confirms his opinion of the 
truth of the adage, "that a great man may speak and act 
unwisely." It will be recollected that Mr. Jefferson once 



28 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

entertained the opinion, that a navy of gun-boats was bet- 
ter adapted to our national defence and to the genius of 
our political institutions, than frigates and ships of the line; 
but in the true spirit of an honest statesman, he yielded 
his theory to the teachings of experience. The writer is 
as decidedly in favor of reform in every thing which can 
be improved, as any man in existence; but the reader will 
agree with him, that every change in a constitution or form 
of government is not, or may not be a reform, and that 
what one man would pronounce a reform, another would 
consider a positive evil. How then is a case of this nature 
to be settled, so as to decide which measure would be a 
reform and which would be an evil? The answer is easy 
and at hand; collect the sentiments of the entire people 
of the state or nation, through representatives chosen by 
the voters, and assemble the representatives in council. — 
Although some of the voters might choose their represen- 
tatives under the influence of great excitement, the voters 
in a majority of the counties might act and vote deliber- 
ately. But suppose that the voters throughout a state or 
nation should cast their votes when in a high state of ex- 
citement and passion; — their representatives, when assem- 
bled in council, might be calm, calculating, and deliberative; 
but suppose that the representatives carried with them into 
the legislative halls, the same excited feelings and princi- 
ples of the voters on the day of the election; (the writer 
has supposed an extreme case — one scarcely supposable; 
but he will consider the case as having actually taken place;) 
the furious delegates representing every county in a state, 
or district in a nation, would bring with them conflicting 
sectional interests, which could only be settled by a com- 
promise; this would lead to a better temper, and if good 
feeling was not fully restored, the different conflicting sec- 
tional interests would force a compromise and agreement. 
A legislative body thus composed might be compared to 
several individuals, bitter enemies to each other, placed in 
a boat supplied with oars, and launched in a boisterous sea, 
a distance from shore, and driven further from it by the 
tempest; if they united in their efforts, they might succeed 
in rowing the boat to land, and every foot gained would 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 27 

lessen the danger and render the labour easier; but if they 
made no effort to save themselves, inevitable destruction 
would be the consequence, unless they received aid from 
some other source. 

Utterly disclaiming any personal allusion, or application 
to any political party, every jacobin disorganizer is a pro- 
fessed reformer; there is not an exception. He labours to 
captivate by the imposing term, reform, without defining 
or illustrating his principles; and to excite, by presenting 
imaginary evils, or magnifying real ones; urges the popu- 
lace to forcible resistance to the laws, in place of peacea- 
ble and legal correctives. Between extremes there is as 
certainly a just and wholesome medium as it is certain that 
there is a centre to a circle; and if, in the formation of gov- 
ernment, we run into extremes, we lose or weaken the ne- 
cessary checks and balances; and, in proportion, as we de- 
part from an equilibrium, the different branches of govern- 
ment are in danger of disuniting and producing disorder 
and confusion. The city of Baltimore, and each county, 
sends one senator; one-third of these senators are chosen 
every two years. The city, and each county, sends dele- 
gates, annually elected, varying in number from three to 
five each, in accordance with a provision of the Constitu- 
tion, having regard to territory and population. Suppose 
the senator and delegates from said city, and each county, 
acted independently of each other, and the laws and reg- 
ulations for the city of Baltimore wholly enacted by the 
senator and delegates chosen for said city — -and the same 
in relation to each county — would any soberminded and 
deliberative man say that such an amendment to the Con- 
stitution would be a reform? And, yet, the question might 
be asked, what right has the senator and delegates from 
Worcester county — bounded by the sea-shore — to vote on 
any bill of a local nature, introduced by the senator and 
delegates of Washington county for the special use and ben- 
efit of the people of said county? The answer is: for just 
the same wholesome reason that the senator and delegates 
of Washington county have to vote on a local bill for the 
use and benefit of the people of Worcester, and to keep up 
an equilibrium and prevent a dissolution of government, 



30 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Barring against an extreme, the more counties a state is 
divided into the less will be the disposition and power of 
the majority to proscribe the minority — the greater the dis- 
position to compromise and legislate upon enlightened, lib- 
eral and just principles. If the number of counties in Ma- 
ryland were doubled — forty in place of twenty — adhering 
to the same number of senators and delegates as at pres- 
ent; giving each county one or more delegates, in propor- 
tion to population; and forming the counties into twenty-one 
senatorial districts, sending, each, one senator; it would be 
an improvement. Conflicting interest, divided by forty-one 
instead of twenty-one, would be more easily compromised 
upon just principles. The conflicting interests between the 
marine and sub-marine sections of the state would be easily 
approached from the centre, and mountains reduced to mole 
hills, and difficulties submerged in a spirit of compromise 
approaching as near as possible to an equilibrium. Those 
representatives whose interests were nearly alike, would act 
as arbitrators between those whose interests were so very 
different, whilst the latter would hold a wholesome control- 
ing power and check over their arbitrators. The centre 
representatives in a state thus situated might be compared to 
the main-spring of a watch; and those remote from it, to 
the machinery connected with it; and interest would dictate 
to all the absolute necessity of compromise and mutual for- 
bearance upon just principles. 

To protect, alike, as well the natural and acquired rights 
of rich and poor; preserve order and harmony — without 
which life is insecure — it is as necessary that the different 
branches of government should be connected with each 
other, to unite strength and durability, as it is necessary 
that the different materials which form the body and inte- 
rior of a house should be cemented, bound and riveted to- 
gether, to secure the lives and comfort of the inmates. In 
the former case, the body of the people is the foundation 
upon which the moral and political structure should be 
reared, with due regard to checks and balances and equilib- 
riums, to prevent the structure from warping. A just me- 
dium should be observed; avoiding extremes — having re- 
spect to safety and durability as well as beauty of theory, 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 31 

Without an appointing power, created by the people, there 
will be a want of deliberation. The writer is as decided- 
ly in favour as any man is of electing, by the popular voice, 
the president and vice-president, members of the H. of R. 
of the United States, governors of the states, both branch- 
es of the Legislature, and sheriffs-, to which some other 
persons, to be clothed with authority, might be added with- 
out weakening the moral and physical strength of the peo- 
ple, or rendering their rights less secure. But there is cer- 
tainly a medium; and if the people fall short of it, or go be- 
yond it, they weaken their strength and endanger their 
rights. 

It has been said that to appoint judges of courts, county 
clerks, registers of wills, justices of the peace, &c. &c, by 
the Legislature, deprives the poor man of his right to vote. 
There would be as much sense and truth in saying that it 
deprives the rich man of the same right. Persons appoint- 
ed to office by the Legislature are not elected by the direct 
vote of rich or poor, and both are placed upon the same 
footing — a proposition plain enough for a man of the most 
moderate comprehension, and the writer will offer no argu- 
ments in support of a self-evident fact. If the writer was 
to suggest an amendment to the Constitution, in reference 
to judges, it would be to insert a provision prohibiting any 
judge of a court from sitting in the county or district in 
which he resides. The less intercourse or acquaintance a 
judge has with the people over whom he presides, the more 
free will his mind be from bias or prejudice. An unprin- 
cipled judge, knowing the principles of law, but not under 
religious or moral restraint, might, and probably would, give 
righteous decisions in every case in which he was wholly 
unacquainted with the parties and the people. A judge 
thus situated would be governed in his decision upon a 
question of lav/ by the same principles which govern a tutor 
in teaching his scholars — th e principles of arithmetic. In 
the foregoing, the writer disclaims any personal allusion. — 
No state in the Union has a judiciary of sounder integrity, 
or more brilliant talents, than Maryland; and no state, per- 
haps, has produced a greater number cf able jurists. 

In concluding this chapter, the writer distinctly says that 



32 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

he considers a representative democratic form of govern- 
ment, with checks and balances for its preservation, and de- 
riving all its power from the majority of the voters, the on- 
ly rational form of government upon earth, and the best 
calculated to preserve the rights of all with the least pres- 
sure. Notwithstanding, under a democratic form of gov-* 
ernment, the majority, which must, necessarily, be the rfc- 
mocracy^ never fail to proscribe the minority in reference 
to offices, it springs from a trait in human nature to which an 
exception cannot be produced, except, only, as to the extent 
of the proscription. Every party, when it constituted the 
democracy of numbers, proscribed, to a greater or less de- 
gree, the minority; but under an aristocratic or monarchia! 
form of government, the minority rule the democracy, and 
have never failed to proscribe and oppress. It is safer to 
trust to the democracy than to the minority. The writer 
cannot conceive that there is either sense or justice in the 
minority ruling the democracy. If the democracy fail to 
secure to all the peaceable enjoyment of their natural and 
acquired rights, in vain may they look for security from a 
minority. Government, in its best form, is said to be a ne- 
cessary evil; in its worst form, an intolerable one. The wri- 
ter will not hazard an opinion as to whether government 
would, or would not, be necessary, if the whole human fam- 
ily were in a state of perfection. The question is too met- 
aphysical for him; and if it could be shown, he is not aware 
that its solution would be beneficial to the human family. 
That the human race is not perfect, and that government 
is necessary, are admitted. 

It would be difficult, if not impossible, for a candidate 
to appear before the people, at a popular election, without 
identifying himself wilh a party; but it is the duty of a rep- 
resentative, on reaching a legislative hall, to act with the 
single object of promoting the general good and public 
welfare. A representative who would support or oppose 
any measure upon party ground, without reference to its 
merit or dement, would be an unsafe representative, and 
wholly unworthy of confidence. ^Representatives should 
act upon the same principles as jurors. The moral obliga- 
tion upon them, so to act, is, or ought to be equally bind* 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 33 

iiig. If judges and jurors were swayed, in their decisions, 
by party considerations, courts of justice could only exist 
in name, not in reality u Is he a whig?" or, l4 Is he a dem- 
ocrat? v is an inquiry frequently made in reference to a can- 
didate, and to which there can be no mora! objection. But 
would not the question, in reference to a j uror, produce an 
unpleasant sensation? When the question is asked in ref- 
erence to a representative, ought it to be understood that 
he will be governed by pctrty considerations without regard 
to the interest, happiness and prosperity of the people? A 
man may properly appear as the candidate of a party, but, 
if elected, he ought to be the representative of the people. 
A representative who would not be governed by the 
teachings of experience and the dictates of his reason — 
with the single and only motive of advancing t he good of 
all — would be not only an improper, but a dangerous, rep- 
resentative. To err, is human — it is the lot of imperfect 
man. Unintentional error, though it may and often has 
produced great evil, is more or less excusable; but no man 
can be influenced by correct motives who is governed bv 
party considerations in opposition to his own sense of right, 



CHAPTER It 

On the Qualification of Voters* 

The writer does not know that it will be expected of him 
to say anything upon the principle of suffrage; nor is he 
aware that it is necessary for him to do so. But as he has 
not, nor ever had, any desire to conceal his sentiments up- 
on any subject connected with politics or anything else, he 
distinctly says that he does not, nor ever could, beiievf 
that it required either dollars or acres to confer upon a man 
intellectual faculties; or to make him politically or morall) 
honest; or that his attachment to his country must be ir 
proportion to, or dependent upon, bis wealth. Property is 
C 



34 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

daily passing from those born rich to those born poor; the 
rich of to-day, are t he poor of to morrow; and the poor of 
to-day, are l he wealthy of to-morrow; many who hold larcre 
estates are insolvent; and the prospects of the industrious 
pour are generally better than the prospects of the wealthy, 
many of whom raise their children in idleness. The wri- 
ter will not assert that there are no evils in universal suf- 
frage; but he does say that, in his opinion, and from ids ob- 
servation, when he resided iri Viiginia, of the practical ef- 
fect of a strong property qualification, that the evils con- 
nected with universal suffrage are less than the evils which 
grow out of property qualification. Where a property qual- 
ification is the requisite, wealthy men can manufacture vo- 
ters with impunity, and without subjecting themselves to 
the charge of violating the letter or spirit of the law. — 
Suppose it required twenty-five acres of land, or a house 
and lot in a town, equivalent to it, and a specified length of 
possession to constitute a voter: the parties in a county or 
district are nearly equally divided, and an important elec- 
tion will soon take place: a man, deeply interested, owns 
five hundred acres of land, or more, has a half-dozen sons 
and sons-in-law, all of lawful age, living on his land: he 
makes each a deed for the requisite quantity in time to con- 
stitute them voters; the deeds are recorded and are valid 
in law and equity. lie might say that he made the deeds 
for the only purpose of making them voters, and that but 
for which purpose they never would have owned.lhe land 
during his life, yet the deeds and their right to vote would 
be as valid as if they had paid a valuable consideration in 
money. The same will apply, whether the qualification is 
in real or personal property, or to quantity or value. The 
writer was once a member of a committee who measured, 
with a rule, the size of a dwelling house, in Virginia, to 
ascertain whether its dimensions, in connection with twen- 
ty-five acres of land, were sufficient to constitute the owner 
a voter. A convention, which assembled in 1830, extend- 
ed the right of suffrage-, but there still exists, in Virginia, 
a strong properly qualification. 

On refering to the original constitutions of the old thir- 
teen stales, it will appear that the right of suffrage was 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 35 

more liberal and less restrictive in the stales of Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont 
and New Jersey, than in the others. Females had a right 
to vote under the original constitution of New Jersey. In 
Rhode Island, the people have not, as yet, formed a con- 
stitution. The charter granted by Charles II, modified to 
suit their condition after the separation from England, has 
been adhered to. It is worthy of remark, that the charter 
granted to the people the right of choosing their governor 
and representatives — requires no properly qualification on 
the part of the voter. The qualification required since the 
separation from England, cannot justly be charged to the 
royal charter, for it requires none, and is, in its general fea- 
tures, more democratic than some of the constitutions of 
the present day. The suffrage men appear to have con- 
tended for the rights granted by the letter and spirit of the 
charter. 

If, at the commencement of the revolution, king George 
I'll, had called on Mr. Jefferson to propose and write such 
a charter of privileges for each of the colonies as would be 
satisfactory to them, it is not probable that he would have 
asked more than was granted by Charles II. Because, in 
his memoirs, first voulme, page 150, is a letter, dated Mon- 
licello, August 25, 1775, addressed to John Randolph, 
Esq, (not the eccentric gentleman of that name, who was 
his bitter reviler in Congress, but a gentleman of that name 
who resided in Virginia at that time,) in which Mr. Jeffer- 
son says: — 

u Jf, indeed, Great Britain, disjointed from her colonies, 
be a match for the most potent nations of Europe, with 
the colonies thrown into their scale, they may go on secure- 
ly. But if they are not assured of this, it would be cer- 
tainly unwise, by trying the event of another campaign, to 
risk our accepting a foreign aid, which perhaps may be at- 
tainable but on condition of everlasting avulsion from G. 
Britain. This would be thought a hard condition to those 
who still wish for re-union with their parent country . lam 
sincerely one of those, and would rather be in dependence 
on Great Britain, properly limited, than on any nation upon 
earth, or than on no nation. But I am one of those, too, 
C2 



• POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

who, rather than to submit to the right of legislating for us, 
assumed by the British Parliament, and which late experi- 
ence has shown they will so cruelly exercise, would lend my 
hand to sink the whole island in the ocean!" 

In another letter, addressed to the same gentleman, 
page 152, first vol., dated Philadelphia, November 29, 1775, 
only eigbi months previous to the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, Mr. Jefferson — at that lime a member of the Con- 
tinental Congress which passed the Declaration of Inde- 
dence — says:— 

"Believe me, dear sir, there is not in the British empire 
a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britair 
than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease U 
exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the 
British Parliament propose; and, in this, I think I speak the 
sentiments of America. We want neither inducement not 
power to declare and assert a separation. It is will alone 
which is wauling, and thai is growing apace under the fos- 
tering hand of our king. One bloody campaign will prob- 
ably decide everlastingly our future course; I am sorry tc 
find a bloody campaign is decided on. If our winds and 
waters should not combine to rescue their shores from sla- 
very, and General Howe's reinforcement should arrive ir 
safety, we have hemes he will be inspirited to come out o 
Boston and take another drubbing: and we must drub hin 
soundly before the sceptred tyrant will know we are no 
mere brutes, to crouch under his hand, and kiss the ro< 
wi'h which he designs to scourge us. 1 ' 

It appears, then, that eight months previous to the De- 
claration of Independence, Mr. Jefferson preferred reconcil- 
iation to separation; and he doubtless spoke the sentiments 
of the great mass of the American people. His letters to 
Mr. Randolph are not at variance with the sentiments in the 
Declaration of Independence. In thai venerated and able 
stste paper the cause for dissolving allegiance to the Brit- 
ish government is distinctly stated. Had Great Britain re- 
pealed the oppressive acts and edicts of which the colo- 
nies complained, at an early stage of the revolution it would 
have ceased; and whether we would now be a free and in- 
dependent na'ion, or colonies to Great Britain, is a matter 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 37 

of opinion. Some have been so illiberal as to cite Mr. 
Jefferson's letters to Mr. Randolph as proof that he prefer- 
red a monarchial to a democratic form of government. But 
we should take into c msideration the comparatively weak 
state of the colonies compared with the mother country. 
Notwithstanding the patriotism, valour, military skill, per- 
severance and patient sufferings of our forefathers were 
never surpassed, it is by no means certain that they would 
have succeeded had they not been aided by the French. 

If. after the publication of the Declaration, the patriots 
had failed to gain their liberty, it is more than probable that 
Washington and all the leaders of the revolution, including 
the signers of the Declaration, would have been executed 5 
(for an unsuccessful revolution is considered a rebellion,) 
except, perhaps, Mr. Jefferson, who, by the aid of those 
etters, in connection with his superior talents, might have 
escaped. It is believed that Mr. Jefferson, in point of tal- 
ents and tactics in politics, had not his equal during the 
revolution — certainly, not his superior. His mind was as 
comprehensive as powerful; and he viewed both sides of 
every question which presented itself, and, in his wisdom^ 
prepared for a safe retreat, if not triumphant in the right- 
eous cause in which he was engaged. 



CHAPTER III. 

On Protective Duties and National Economy. 

If all the nations of the earth would abolish, forever 5 
til duties upon importations, and open their ports to each 
>ther, indiscriminately, it wo'ild, perhaps, increase the in- 
iercourse between the individuals of nations*which traded 
most with each other; but the writer is not aware that it 
would be productive of general good, politically or morally. 
But it would not be very interesting (o the reader to suppose 
a case ? which no reflecting man believes will ever lake 



H POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

place, and then speculate or theorise upon it. It will be 
more interesting to meet the question as it really is, than 
to suppose a case which does not nor ever can exist, unless 
human nature should be radically changed. Modern wri- 
ters upon national policy, denounce measures of retaliation 
as unsound in morals, and productive of more evil than 
good. The objection to retaliating measures must be ta- 
ken in a qualified sense; otherwise, it is wrong to punish 
a convicted thief. If a thief steals money or property, he 
is bound by law, gospel and justice to make restitution; 
and the modern law, which subjects him to corporeal pun- 
ishment, is in accordance with the laws of Moses, handed 
down by Deity. If it be decided that all measures of re- 
taliation are wrong, it foLlows. upon the same principles, 
that all wrongs, no matter how unprovoked or grievous, 
ought to pass unredressed. Those, whose arguments are 
wholly confined to abstractions, labour to fetter the human 
mind; because all, or most, abstract questions, or facts, re- 
quire elucidation. If it should be said that John is 25 and 
Lucy 18 years old, it is not said by this abstract statement 
whether they are married or single; virtuous or vicious; 
and if it is said that the United Slates and England impose 
a tariff upon importation, the latter statement, abstractedly, 
is not more important than the first. But, if it be said, 
that two or more wrongs cannot make a right, this is ad- 
mitted; but the writer has yet to learn that it is wrong to 
punish a thief, or to protect industry, by insuring to the la- 
bourer a just compensation for his labour. The labourer 
has a just right to a compensation equivalent to his com- 
fortable support; and no man is so industrious as to work 
for nothing rather than to be idle. A government which 
does not protect, or try to protect, its labouring class, may 
be compared to a man who does not provide for his fajnily, 
or to parents who bring up their children in idleness; be- 
cause, it is a matter of but little consequence as to the 
effect, whether the body of the people are naturally indo- 
lent, or whether they cannot obtain labour. In the United 
States, agriculture, the various branches of mechanism, and 
commerce, are so connected with, and dependent upon, 
each other, that it is impossible io prostrate any one, with- 



TOLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 35 

out seriously injuring the other?; and an equilibrium can 
never be kept up by abstractions, without regard to pro- 
portions and attendant circumstances, in the foregoing it 
is not written distinctively of ihit class generally termed 
labouring men; neither was it necessary to do so; because, 
all labour is more or less mechanical. The man who la- 
bours w«ih a pen, or he who labours with an axe, hoe, 
spade, or any other implement, acts mote or less mechan- 
ically; and, consequently, all labour is more or less con- 
nected with mechanism. Mechanism cannot be separated 
from labour and treated as a distinct branch or avocalion; 
it may, in the common acceptation of the term, be consid- 
ered the highest branch of 1 ibour, and in some countries, 
or situations, the most profitable; but it would be difficult, 
if not impossible, to prove it to be the most useful. 

The opponents of a protective tariff charge its advocates 
with behg opposed to free trade. There would be as 
much justice in charging aii those who advocate protection 
against the vicious anil lawless, with being opposed to lib- 
erty. When the patriots of the Revolution resolved upon 
Libertv, they raised the arm of protection". There can- 
not exist either liberty or free trade, in the wholesome 
sense of the terms, and the sense in which both terms are 
understood by the friends and opponents of the policy, 
without protection. The opponents of a protective tariff 
further say, that, it increases the prices upon the consumers, 
without affecting the prices obtained by the growers or 
manufacturers. If this be correct, how ungenerous and 
unjust it is (or us to complain of the high tariff imposed 
upon our importations of dour to England, and the high 
tariff on our importations of tobacco to France! If the 
consumers of the (lour sent to England, and the consumers 
of the tobacco sent to France, pay all and we pay none of 
the duty, it matters not to us whether our flour and tobac- 
co are admitted free of duly, or whether a tariff o? ten dol- 
lars is laid upon a barrel of flour and twenty-five cents upon 
a pound of tobacco. Under a well regulated tariff, laid 
with a view exclusively to protection, sound policy and 
the interest of every section of our wide spread country 
might require a duty so heavy on some articles as to ex- 



40 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

chide them, and to admit some others free of duty. A 
duly laid, with a view of protection, ought to be discrimi- 
nating; a dollar's worth of broadcloth ought to paj more 
than a dollar's worth of tea; because, the former can be 
manufactured in abundance in this country, whereas the 
latter cannot be raised at all, or never has been; and, sec- 
ondly, broad-cloth is principally worn by the rich, and the 
manufacturing of it in this country would give employment 
to our own manfacturers and labouring men; and if the 
tariff increased the value of it, as is contended by the op- 
ponents of the measure, it would be paid by the rich. — 
Let a case be supposed* The United States and Great 
Britain enier into an engagement, by which the former 
agrees to deliver the latter a hundred thousand barrels of 
flour at Liverpool, and the latter agrees to deliver the for- 
mer a like number of barrels of equal quality at Boston. — 
Suppose that each nation exacted of the other a tariff of 
three dollars per barrel; the effect upon the two nations 
would be the same as if each nation admitted the imported 
flour free of duty. Butsuppose we paid a tariff of three 
dollars per barrel en our exportation, and only received a 
tariff 1 of one dollar a barrel en the importation at Boston, 
we would lose two hundred thousand dollars by the differ- 
ence in the tariff laws of the two nations. But it may be 
said tlrat this supposed case, as relates to the tariff, never 
did and never will occur — that its injustice is too glaring 
to be entertained or submitted to. To this point let the 
reader pay particular attention. The writer has only sup- 
posed a case, or, more properly, stated the inequality of 
the tariff laws of the United States, Great Britain, France, 
and other European nations, as they now exist, and have 
existed tor a number of years, and the withering effects 
are fell throughout our country. The inequality may not 
generally be considered so great as in the case of the flour; 
but, startling as it may seem, the inequality and unequal 
bearing on ihe United Slates are even greater than above 
supposed. The opponents of a protecting tariff admit that 
our tariff is greatly under the tariff duties of the nations 
with whom we trade; but, say they, foreign nations ought 
to bring down their tariff to an equilibrium with ours.— 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 4* 

Now, we do not possess the right nor power to compel 
foreign nations to reduce their tariff laws to an equilibri- 
um with ours; but we possess the power and the right to 
raise ours to an equilibrium with theirs, and sound policy 
requires it. The opponents of a protective tariff some- 
times refer to Mr. Jefferson, which is calling upon a wit- 
ness to testify against them. As they have no right to im- 
peach their own witness, Mr. Jefferson shall be examined. 
!n his Notes on Virginia, page 171, Boston edition, for 1832, 
ie says — u Tbe political economists of Europe have estab- 
ished it as a principle that every state should endeavour to 
nanufacture for itself: and this principle, like many others, 
ve transfer to America, without calculating the difference 
>f circumstances which should often produce a difference 
if result. In Europe the lands are either cultivated, or 
ocked up against the cultivator. Manufacture must there- 
fore be resorted to of necessity, not of choice, to support 
the surplus of their people. But we have an immensity of 
and courting the industry of the husbandman. Is it best, 
hen, that all our citizens should be employed in its im- 
)rovement, or that one half should be called off from that 
o exercise manufactures and handicraft arts fcr the other? 
Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of 
iod, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has 
nade his peculiar deposite for substantial and genuine 
irtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred 
ire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the 
arth. Corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is 
i phenomenon of which no age or nation has furnished an 
xample. It is the mark 9et on those, who not looking up 
o heaven, to their own soil and industry, as does the hus- 
jandman, for their subsistence, depend for it on casualties 
ind caprice of customers. Dependence begets subservience 
md venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares 
it tools for the designs of ambition. This, the natural 
>rogress and consequence of the arts, has som-etimes, per- 
»aps, been retarded by accidental circumstances: but, gen- 
erally speaking, the proportion which the aggregate of the 
ither classes of citizens bears in any state to that of its 
jusbandmen, is the portion of its unsound to its healthy 



43 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

parts, and is a good enough barometer whereby to measure 
its degree of corruption. While we have land to kbour, 
then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a 
work-bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, 
smiths, are wanting in husbandry : but, for the general op- 
eralions of manufactures, let our work-shops remain in 
Europe. It is belter to carry provisions and materials to 
workmen there, than bring them to the provisions and 
materials, and with them their manners and principles. — 
The loss by the transportation of commodities across the 
Atlantic will be made up in happiness and permanence of 
government. The mobs of great cities add just so much 
to the support of government, as sores do to the strength of 
the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people 
which preserve a republic in vigour. Degeneracy in these 
is a canker which soon eats to the heart." 

If Mr. Jefferson had never afierwards written a word 
upon the subject of manufactures, a calculating statesman, 
looking to the circumstances which surrounded him, or 
which might present themselves, would not venture the 
declaraiion that the sentiments advanced by Mr. Jefferson 
would be applicable under any circumstances and through 
all time. Virtue, political and moral honesty are funda- 
mental principles, which are substantially embraced in the 
Ten Commandments and should never be departed from; 
but circumstances have frequently occurred connected 
with our national and state policy, which made it necessary 
and proper to change measures. The mere abandonment 
of one measure, and the adoption of another, or the repeal- 
ing of a law, and the enacting of another, does not prove 
that the measure abandoned and the law repealed never 
were wholesome and proper. There was a time when 
there was no necessity for a steamboat on the Ohio, or a 
Court House on the territory which now forms Kentucky; 
there was a time when strict lavts were required for the 
protection of deer; but when the country was brought into 
cultivation, those laws became unnecessary, and their en- 
forcement in many places would be oppressive and tyrani- 
cal. Happily for us, the days of Air. Jefferson, the great 
apostle of democracy, the enlightened statesman and pure. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 45 

patriot, were extended long enough to prove that the senti- 
ments he advanced, in the quotation considered, ought 
not to he carried out under any circumstances whatever. 
The sentiments he advanced were applicable to our situa- 
tion at ihe period lie advanced them; but were not intend- 
ed by him as standard sentiments and principles which 
would be applicable through all ages and under any cir- 
cumstances, Nor did he expect to be so understood: in 
support of which, we make the following quotation from 
bis letter to Benjamin Austin, dated, Monticello, January 
9, 1816. and published in the fourth volume of his Me- 
moirs, page 2S0. 

"You tell me I am quoted by those who wish to con- 
tinue our dependence on England for manufactures. — 
There was a time when I might have been quoted wit h 
more candour. But within the thirty years which have 
since elapsed, how are circumstances changed! We were 
then in peace; our independent p'ace among nations was 
acknowledged. A commerce which offered the raw ma- 
terial in exchange for the same material after receiving 
the last touch of industry, was worthy of welcome to all 
nations. It was expected, that those especially to whom 
manufacturing industry was important, would cherish the 
friendship of such customers by every favour, and partic- 
ularly cultivate their peace by every act of justice and 
friendship. Under this prospect, the question seemed le- 
gitimate, whether, with such an immensity of unimproved 
land, courting the hand of husbandry, the industry of ag- 
riculture, or that of manufacture, would add most to the 
national wealth. And the doubt on the utility of the 
American manufactures was entertained on this considera- 
tion, chiefly, that to the labour of the husbandman a vast 
addition is made by the spontaneous energies of the earth 
on which it is employed. For one grain of wheat com- 
mitted to the earth, she renders twenty, thirty and even 
fifty fold; whereas, to the labour of manufacture, nothing 
is added. Pounds of flax, in his hands, on the contrary, 
yield but pennyweights of lace. This exchange, too, la- 
borious as it might seem, what a field did it promise for 
the occupation of the ocean; what a nursery for that clasa 



44 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

of citizens who were to exercise and maintain our equal 
rights on that element! This was the state of things in 
1785, when the notes of Virginia were first published; 
when the ocean being open to all nations, and their com- 
non right in it acknowledged and exercised under regnla- 
ions sanctioned by the assent and usage of all, it was 
thought that the doubt might claim some consideration, 

"but who, in 17?5, could foresee the rapid depravity 
which was to render the close of that century a disgrace 
to the history of man? Who could have imagined that 
the two most distinguished in the rank of nations, for sci- 
ence and civilization, would have suddenly descended 
from that honorable eminence, and setting at defiance all 
those moral laws established by the Author of nature be- 
tween nation and nation, as between man and man, would 
cover earth and sea with robberies and piracies, merely be- 
cause strong enough to do it with temporal impunity, and 
that under this disbandment of nations from social order, we 
should have been despoiled of a thousand ships, and have 
thousands of citizens reduced to Algerine slavery? Yet 
all this has taken place. The British interdicted to our 
vessels all harbours of the globe, without having first pro- 
ceeded to some one of hers, there paid a tribute propor- 
tioned to the cargo, and obtained her license to proceed 
to the port of destination. The French declared them to 
be lawful prizes if they had been touched at the port, or 
been visited by a ship of the enemy-nation* Thus were 
we completely excluded from the ocean. Compare this 
state of things with that of '85, and say whether an opin- 
ion founded in the circumstances of that day, can be fairly 
applied to those of the present. We have experienced, 
what we did not then Relieve, that there exists both profli- 
gacy and power enough to exclude us from the field of 
interchange with o.her nations. That to be independent 
for the comforts of life, we must fabricate them ourselves. 
We must now place the manufacturer by the side of the 
agriculturalist. The former question is suppressed, or 
rather assumes a new form. The grand inquiry now is, 
shall we make our own comforts, or go without them at 
the will of a foreign nation. He, therefore, who is now 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 45 

against domestic manufacture, must be for reducing us 
either to dependence on that foreign nation, or to be cloth- 
ed in skins, and live like wild beasts in dens and caverns. 
I am not one of these. Experience has taught me that 
manufactures are now as necessary to our independence a3 
to our comfort; and if those who quote me as of a differ- 
ent opinion, will keep pace with me in purchasing nothing 
foreign, where an eqnival ent of domestic fabric ean be ob- 
tained, without regard to difference of price, it will not be 
our fault if we do not soon have a supply at home equal 
to our demand, and wrest that weapon of distress frorr 
the hand which has so long wantonly wielded it. If it 
shall be proposed to go beyond our own supply, the ques- 
tion of '85 will then recur. Will our surplus labour be 
then more beneficially employed in the culture of the 
earth, or in the fabrications of art? We have time yet fo 
consideration, before that question will press upon us; an 
the axiom to be applied will depend on the circumstance 
which shall then exist. For in so complicated a scienc 
as political economy, no one axiom can be laid down a ; 
wise and expedient for all times and circumstances. Inat 
tention to this is what has called for this explanation, whic 
reflection would have rendered unnecessary with the can! 
did, while nothing w ill do it with those who use the forme 
opinion only as a stalking horse to cover their disloya 
propensities to keep us in eternal vassalage to a foreign 
and unfriendly people. 5 ' 

In the quotation from his Notes on Virginia and his let 
ter to Mr. Austin, Mr. Jefferson displayed a giant mind, 
and, taking into consideration surrounding circumstances 
advocated measures suited to them — the true course of i 
great statesman and honest politician, recommending meas- 
ures called for by the policy of foreign nations. When 
he wrote his Note3 on Virginia, such mechanical branches, 
only, as were closely connected with husbandry were ne 
cessary. But time and the policy of foreign nations made 
it necessary and proper to add manufactures to agriculture; 
and experience proved that each would strengthen and 
invigorate the other. In 1785, there was no more neces- 
sity for manufactures and the mechanic arts, beyond those 



46 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. % 

Mated by Mr. Jefferson, than there was for steamboats on 
the Ohio. In 1816 experience proved — "Thai to be inde- 
pendent for the comforts of iife, we must fabricate them 
ourselves — we must now place the manufacturer by the 
-side of the agriculturalist." There is one sentence in Mr. 
Jefferson's teller which ought to be inscribed in large char- 
acters in every legislative hall, on the plough beam, in the 
school room, and in t lie dwelling of every citizen in the 
Union; it is in these words: — "For in so complicated a 
science as political economy, no one axiom can be 
laid down as wise and expedient for all times and 
circumstances." The foregoing text is in accordance 
with the great mind from which it emanated. Mr. Jeffer- 
son was a democrat in principle, and, in recommending and 
adopting measures applicable to his democratic principles, 
he took a statesman-like view of surrounding circumstances. 
His political principles were as pure and invigorating as 
the atmosphere where he penned his letter to Mr. Austin, 
and his expansive mind grasped, at a single glance, the 
physical and moral strength of the Union and the policy 
of foreign nations with whom we had intercourse. 

President Jackson, in his second annual message to Con- 
gress, uses this language: — 

"The object of the tariff is objected to by some as un- 
constitutional; and is considered by almost all as defective 
in many of its parts. 

"The power to impose duties on imports originally be- 
longed to the several states. The right to adjust those 
duties with a view to the encouragement of domestic 
branches of industry is so completely incidental to that 
power that it is difficult to suppose the one without the 
other. The states iiave delegated their whole authority 
over imports to the general government, without limitation 
or restriction, saving the very inconsiderable reservation 
relating to their inspection laws. This authority having 
thus entirely passed from the states, the light to exercise 
it for the purpose of protection does not exist in them; 
and, consequently, if it be not possessed by ihe general 
government, it must be extinct. Our political system 
would thus present the anomaly of a people stripped of 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 4T 

the right to foster their own industry, and to counteract 
the most selfish and destructive policy which might be 
adopted by foreign nations. This surely cannot he the 
case; this indispensable power, thus surr nriered by the 
states, must be within (he scope of the authority on the 
subject expressly delegated to Congress. 

u Jn this conclusion, I am confirmed as well by the opin- 
ions of presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and 
Monroe, who have each repeatedly recommended the ex- 
ercise of this right under the conslitution, as by the uniform 
practice of Congress, and the continued acquiescence of 
the general understanding of the people.' 5 

A few words are emphasised: in every other respect the 
quotation is literal and contains three entire paragraphs* — 
The number who believe that a tariff laid with a view to 
protection against the oppressive policy of foreign nations, 
or for the protection of our mechanics, would be unconsti- 
tutional, must be comparatively small. It is questionable 
whether any intelligent man believes that a protective tariff 
is unconstitutional under any circumstances whatever. — 
The reader will bear in mind the difference between pro- 
tection and oppression. The advocates of a protective 
tariff are against oppressing any portion of the people. — 
Under the compromise act, the tariff had come down to'its 
lowest point of twenty per cent., and if reducing it to ten 
per cent, or to one per cent., would promote the general 
good and public welfare, more than a higher taiiff, the ad- 
vocates of protection would go for one per cent, in prefer- 
ence to a higher rale. Protection and prosperity, in a na- 
tional and individual point of view, are l lie objects of the 
friends of a protective tariff; they are alike opposed to duty 
on importations being loo high or too low. That the 
taiiff of 1830 may have been imperfect in some of its de- 
tails, is frobaul. . All human measures and institutions 
necessarily spring from, and are governed by, human minds 
and hands, and must he more or less imperfect; and as 
time and circumstances develope imperfections they ought 
to be corrected. At that period we had a protective tariff, 
and as sound, uniform, and convenient a currency for all 
classes of citizens, as the world ever produced, and the 



48 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

country was in a high state of prosperity. In that message 
the president spoke of the revenue in the following Ian* 
guage: — 

"According to the estimates at the Treasury Department 
the receipts in the Treasury, during the present year, wi' 
amount to twenty-four millions, one hundred and sixty-on 
thousand and eighteen dollars, which will exceed, by abou 
three hundred thousand dollars, the estimate presented i: 
the annual report of the secretary of the Treasury. The 
total expenditure during the year, exclusive of the publi 
debt, is estimated at thirteen millions, seven hundred an< 
forty-two thousand, three hundred and eleven dollars; anc 
the payment on account of public debt, for thevsame pe 
riod, will have been eleven millions, three hundred and fif 
ty-four thousand, six hundred and thirty dollars; leaving ; 
balance in the Treasury, on the 1st of January, 1831, c 
four millions, eight hundred and nineteen thousand, sever 
hundred and eighty-one dollars." 

In about four years afterwards, the whole national deb 
was paid off; and before the close of his administration, i 
surplus revenue of about forty millions had accumulated 
which Congress directed to be distributed among the state? 
in proportion to their population. It must be borne in mini 
that president Jackson was aided throughout his ad minis 
tration by a protective tariff. The compromise act of 188 
but slightly affected the revenue until after the public deb 
was paid off. In his first annual message, of Decembe 
1829, he stated that the public debt on the 1st of Janua 
ry, following, would be reduced to forty-eight millions u 
dollars; and in his fifth annual message, of December 1831 
he spoke in strong and vivid language of the prosperou 
condition of the Treasury, and that the national debt, o 
the 1st of the ensuing month,' would be reduced to for 
millions of dollars, and that the whole debt would be liqui 
dated during the year 1834. Up to the close of 1833, th 
compromise act did not affect the revenue, and but slightl 
reached it in 1834, when the remnant of the debt was re 
duced to five millions. 

When president Jackson wrote his second annual mes 
sage, he was an advocate for a protective tariff. His Ian 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 49 

guage is unequivocal and cannot be misunderstood by any 
intelligent man; neither will any candid man attempt to mis- 
represent its plain meaning and intent. He not only used 
language the meaning and intent of which was protection 
to domestic industry; but, as determined not to be misun- 
derstood by any class of readers, he literally used the word 
"protection" and applied it to the support and "encour- 
agement" of domestic branches of industry. He conclu- 
ded by a reference to presidents Washington, Jefferson, 
Madison and Monroe, as having "repeatedly recommended 
the exercise of ibis right under the constitution, as by the 
uniform practice of Congress, the continued acquiescence 
of the states, and the general understanding of the people." 
He is silent in reference to the sentiments of president John 
Adams and John Quincy Adams upon this important sub- 
ject. The writer attentively examined the inaugural ad- 
dresses, messages, &c. of both. In reference to the first 
nothing specific is found in support of a protective tariff; 
yet, it is but justice to Mr. Adams, to say that a protective 
tariff was laid and fostered under the administration of his 
predecessor, and was not disturbed by him; to the contra- 
ry, the protective system, organized and fostered under 
the administration of president Washington, was carried 
out and strengthened until after the re-election of presi- 
dent Jackson in 18S2, after which the compromise act was 
passed, and which has acted on the revenue and upon the 
best interests of the great body of the people like a con- 
sumption upon a patient. The body politic is now labour- 
ing under a pulmonary disease of several years standing — 
the national patient requires restoratives; depletives have 
been used until the national patient can scarcely stand. — 
Without questioning the motives of the political doctors, 
who, a few years ago, commenced their sanative operations 
on the national patient, then healthy and vigorous, promis- 
ing to make him more so, and render him immortal, they 
were unsuccessful. They spoke of their nostrums as be- 
ing greatly superior in- their healing quality to any of the 
cure-alls offered at our apothecary shops. The result re- 
minds one of the anecdote of a young disciple of Esculap- 
ius, who had committed to memory two medical phrases, 
D 



SO POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

which he used on all occasions connected with his profes- 
sion, and which his patients believed were so comprehen- 
sive in meanings as to be applicable to ali diseases. The 
one. was "expectorate" and the other "congestive." On 
being told that he had been unsuccessful, that most of his 
patients had died, he gravely answered, that he "never 
failed to effect a cure when his medical treatment had the 
desired effect." It is but charitable to believe that the 
medical treatment of our political doctors would have been 
successful if it had produced the desired effect. As the 
people are anxious to be restored to their former political 
health and vigor, it is hoped and believed that they will 
use the proper means. 

On examining the inaugural address and messages of 
president John Q. Adams, he is silent upon the subject of 
a protective tariff, until he communicated his sentiments in 
his fourth and last annual message, which was after the 
contest between him and Gen. Jackson, and consequently 
Mr. Adams had not the benefit of his sentiments in that 
election in which he was defeated. The reader will bear 
in mind that president John Adams and John Q,, Adams 
were candidates for re-election and were defeated; and 
the same may be said of a president who followed "in the 
footsteps of an illustrious predecessor," after he had de- 
parted from the "footsteps" of Washington, Jefferson, Mad- 
ison and Monroe. Public sentiment indicates in language 
that cannot be misunderstood, that no candidate can here- 
after be elected to the presidential chair, who is known to 
be opposed to a protective tariff; unless the period should 
arrive at which such protection would not be necessary or 
desirable; at such a period, wisdom would dictate that 
statesmen should act accordingly. The sentiments of 
Mr. John Q. Adams, upon the subjecf, are worthy of con- 
sideration. In his fourth annual message of December, 
18*23, he says— 

"The great interests of our agricultural, commercial and 
manufacturing nation, are so linked in union together, that 
no permanent cause of prosperity to one of them can oper- 
ate without extending its influence to the others. All these 
interests are alike under the protecting power of the legis- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 5J 

lative authority, and the duties of (he representative bodies 
are to conciliate them in harmony together. So far as the 
object of taxation is to raise a revenue for discharging the 
debts, and defraying the expenses of the community, it 
should, as much as possible, suit the burden with equal 
hand upon all, in proportion to their ability of bearing 
it without oppression. But the legislation of one nation 
is sometimes intentionally made to bear heavily upon the 
interests of another. That legislation, adapted, as it is 
meant to be, to the special interests of its own people, will 
often press most unequally upon the several component 
interests of its neighbours, Thus, the legislation of Great 
Britain, when, as has recently been avowed, adapted to the 
depression of & rival nation, will naturally abound with 
regulations of interdict upon the productions of the soil 
or industry of the other which came in competition with 
its ownj and will present encouragement, perhaps, even 
bounty, to the raw material of the other state, which it can- 
not produce itself, and which is essential for the use of its 
manufactures, competition in the markets of the world 
with those of its commercial rival. Such is the state of 
the commercial legislation of Great Britain as it bears upon 
our interests, h excludes with interdicting duties, all 
importation (except in time of approaching famine), of the 
great staple productions of our middle and western states; 
it proscribes with equal vigor, bulkier lumber and live 
stock of the same portion, and also of the northern and 
eastern parts of our union. It refuses even the rice of the 
south, unless aggravated with a charge of duty upon the 
northern carrier who brings it to them. But the cotton, 
indispensable for their looms, they will receive almost duty 
free, to weave it into a fabric for our own wear, to the 
destruction of our own manufacturers, which they are thus 
unable to undersell. 5 ' 

''•Is the self-protecting energy of this nation so help- 
less and powerless that there exists, in the political insti- 
tutions of our country, no power to counteract the bias of 
this foreign legislation? that the growers of grain nrrust 
submit to this exclusion from the foreign markets of their 
produce — that the shippers must dismantle their ships, the 

m 



52 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

trade of the north stagnate at the wharves, and the manu> 
facturers starve at their looms, while the whole people shall 
pay tribute to foreign industry to be clad in a foreign garb 
— that the Congress of the Union is impotent to restore 
the balance in favor of native industry destroyed by the 
statutes of another realm? More just and more generous 
sentiments, will, I trust prevail. If the tariff adopted at 
the last session of Congress shall be found by experience 
to bear oppressively upon the interests of any one section 
of the Union, it ought to be, and I cannot doubt will be 
so modified as to alleviate its burden. To the voice of 
just complaint from any portion of their constituents, the 
representatives of the states and people will never turn 
away their ears. But so long as the duty of the foreign 
shall operate only as a bounty upon the domestic article, 
while the planter, the merchant, the shepherd, and the 
husbandman, shall be found thriving in their occupations 
under the duties imposed for the protection of domestic 
manufactures, they will not repine at the prosperity shared 
with themselves by their fellow-citizens of other profes- 
sions, nor denounce as violations of the constitution, the 
deliberate acts of Congress to shield from the wrongs 
of foreign laws the native industry of the Union. While 
the tariff of the last session of Congress was a subject of 
legislative deliberation, it was foretold by some of its op- 
posers that one of its necessary consequences would be 
to impair the revenue. It is yet too soon to pronounce, 
with confidence, that this prediction was erroneous. The 
obstruction of one avenue of trade not unfrequently opens 
an issue to another. The consequence of the tariff will 
be to increase the exportation, and to- diminish the impor- 
tation of some specific articles. But, by the general Jaw 
of trade, the increase of exportation of one article, will 
be followed by an increased importation of others, the du- 
ties upon which, v ill supply the deficiencies, which the 
diminished importation would otherwise occasion. The 
effect of taxation upon revenue can seldom be foreseen 
mhfc certainty. It must abide tfie test of experience. As 
yet, no symptoms of diminution are perceptible in the re- 
ceipts of the Treasury. As yet, little addition of cost has 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 53 

even been experienced upon the articles burthened with 
heavier duties by the last tariff. The domestic manufac- 
turer supplies the same or a kindred article at a diminish- 
ed price, and the consumer pays the same tribute to the 
labour of his own countrymen, which he must otherwise 
have paid to foreign industry and toil. 

"The tariff of the last session was, in its details, not 
acceptable to the great interests of any portion of the 
Union, not even to the interests which it was specially in- 
tended to subserve. Its object was to balance the bur- 
thens upon native industry imposed by the operation of 
foreign laws; but not to aggravate the burthens of one 
section of the Union by the relief offered by another. — 
The great principle sanctioned by that act, one of those 
upon which the constitution itself was formed, I hope and 
trust, the authorities of the Union will adhere. But if any 
of the duties imposed by the act only relieve the manufac- 
turer by aggravating the burthen of the planter, let a care- 
ful revisal of its provisions, enlightened by the practical 
experience of its effects, be directed to retain those which 
impart protection to native industry, and remove or sup- 
ply the place of those which only alleviate one great na- 
tional interest by the depression of another." 

A few words are underscored. The sentiments express- 
ed by president Jackson in his message, two years after- 
wards, accord with the sentiments of Mr. Adarns, bis im- 
mediate predecessor. Both agreed that the tariff, as pass- 
ed at the session of 1827 and '28 was defective in some 
of its details] but both advocated the protective system — 
the uniform policy of the government since its formation. 
And it was not known that the sentiments of president 
Jackson had undergone any change until after he was re- 
elected and the public debt extinguished. An opinion 
prevails among some statesmen, that, if the government 
could be supported without laying any duty whatever upon 
importations, that there would be no necessity for a tariff 
to protect our domestic industry, and that all foreign arti- 
cles should be admitted free of duty or restrictions. — 
Plausible as this may seem, it is as absurd as it would be 
to say that quarentine Jaws should not be put in force un- 



*4 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

til after a pestilence had spread through a city, or that the 
military should not be called into service until a foreign 
foe had invaded and taken possession of our soil. What 
would be said of the municipal authorities of a city, who, 
on being informed of a nuisance in its centre during dog- 
days, would decline having it removed unless it produced 
disease? As some of our statesmen are advocates for the 
repeal of all tariff laws, and illustrating the feeling sense 
by raising a revenue from direct taxes, let us suppose their 
theory to be carried into practice; it would not produce 
corresponding laws on the part of foreign nations, but it 
would be to their interest to break up all our mechanics 
and manufacturers and monopolise the whole branches of 
mechanism. The first effect would be to throw out of 
employment all boot and shoe makers, halttrs, tinners, iron 
merchants, and all mechanics, except only, those closely 
connected with farming; and what would they go at? 
They would be forced into agricultural pursuits which 
would increase the quantity of agricultural productions and 
lower their price, reduce the wages of labour, and in the 
language of Mr. Jefferson, we would have "to be clothed 
in skins, and live like wild beasts in dens and caverns." — 
The United States in such a situation might be compared 
to a leaky ship at sea making water faster than it could be 
pumped out without throwing over- board all her cargo and 
ballast, and then be in danger of foundering. In such a 
deplorable situation we would have a demonstration of the 
feeling sense. If the writer is not mistaken, every state 
in the Union has laws to protect the industry of its own 
citizens against the intrusions of other states. Happily for 
us the people are daily becoming sensible that it is to the 
interest of all to protect the mechanics of our own coun- 
try, and they in return will protect the agricultural interest. 
The true rnterest of the agricultural, mechanical and mer- 
cantile classes in our wide-spread and fertile country, can- 
not be separated without producing an effect similar to 
that of cutting off an arm or a leg from the human body. 
We will next consider the sentiments of president Jack- 
son, after he had changed his views upon the subject or mis- 
applied his principles. In his message of 1836, he says: — 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 55 

'•You will perceive from the report of the secretary of 
the Treasury, that the financial means of the country con- 
tinue to keep pace with its improvements in ail other res- 
pects. The receipts into ihe Treasury during the present 
year will amount to about $47,691,893; those from cus- 
toms being estimated at $32,523.15 1; those from lands 
at about §24,000,000, and the residue from miscellaneous 
sources. The expenditures for all objects during the year, 
are estimated not to exceed $32,000,000, which will leave 
a balance in the Treasury for public purposes, on the first 
day of January next, of about $41,723,959. This sum, 
with the exception of five millions, will be transfered to 
the several states, in accordance with the provisions of the 

act regulating the deposite of the public money.- 5 
* # * * # # # #'# * 

"The consequences apprehended when the deposite act 
of the last session received a reluctant approval, have been 
measurably realised. Though an act merely of deposite 
of the surplus moneys of the United States in the state 
Treasuries for safe keeping, until they may be wanted for 
the service of the general government, it has been exten- 
sively spoken of as an act to give the money to the several 
states, and they have been advised to use it as a gift with- 
out regard to the means of refunding it when called for. 
Such a suggestion has doubtless been made without a due 
consideration of the obligation of the deposite act, and 
without a proper attention to the various principles and 
interests which are affected by it. It is manifest that the 
law itself cannot sanction such a suggestion, and that, as 
it now stands, the states have no more authority to receive 
and use those deposites without intending to return them, 
than any deposite bank, or any individual temporarily 
charged with the safe-keeping or application of the pub- 
lic money, would now have far converting the same to his 
private use, without the consent and against the will of 
the government. But independent of the violation of the 
public faith and moral obligation which are involved in 
this suggestion, when examined in reference to the terms 
of the present deposite act, it is believed that the consid- 
erations which should govern the future legislation of 



56 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Congress on this subject, will be equally conclusive against 
the adoption of any measure recognizing the piinciple3oa 
which the suggestion has been made. 

"The experience of other nations admonished us to has- 
ten the extinguishment of ihe public debt; but it will be in 
vain that we have congratulated each other upon the dis- 
appearance of this evil, if we do not guard against the e- 
qually great one of promoting the unnecessary accumula- 
tion of public revenue. No political maxim is better es- 
tablished than that which telis us that an improvident ex- 
penditure of money is the parent of profligacy, and that 
no people can hope to perpetuate their liberties who long 
acquiesce in a policy which taxes them for objects not ne- 
cessary to the legitimate and real wants of their govern- 
ment. Flattering as is the condition of our country at the 
present period, because of its unexampled advance in all 
the steps of social and political improvement, it cannot be 
disguised that there is a lurking danger already apparent 
in the neglect of this warning truth, and that the time has 
arrived when the representatives of ihe people should be 
employed in devising some more appropriate remedy than 
now exists to avert it." 

"Under our present system, there is every probability 
that there will continue to be a surplus beyond the wants 
of the government; and it has become our duty to decide 
whether such a course be consistent with the true objects 
of our government. 55 

"Should a surplus be permitted to accumulate beyond 
the appropriations, it must be retained in the Treasury, as 
it now is, or distributed among the people of the states. 5 ' 

"To retain in the Treasury, in any way, is impractica- 
ble. It is, besides, against the genius of our bee institu- 
tions to lock up in the vaults the treasure of the nation. 
To take from the people the right of bearing arms, and 
put their weapons in the hands of a standing army, would 
be scarcely more dangerous to their liberties, than to per- 
mit the government to accumulate immense amounts of 
treasure beyond the supplies necessary to its legitimate 
wants. Such a treasure would doubtless be employed at 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. $7 

some time, as it has been in other countries, when oppor- 
tunity tempted ambition. 55 

"To collect it merely for distribution to the states, would 
seem to be highly impolitic, if not as dangerous as the pro- 
position to retain it in the Treasury. The shortest reflec- 
tion must satisfy every one, that to require the people to 
pay taxes to the government merely that they may be paid 
back again, is sporting with the substantial interest of the 
country; and no system which produces such a result can 
be expected to receive the public countenance. Nothing 
could be gained by it, even if each individual who contrib- 
uted a portion of the tax could receive back promptly the 
same portion. But it is apparent that no system of the 
kind can ever be enforced which will not absorb a consid- 
erable portion of the money, to be distributed in salaries 
and commissions to the agents employed in the process, 
and in the various losses and depreciations which arise from 
other causes; and the practical effect of such an attempt 
must ever be to burden the people with taxes, not for pur- 
poses beneficial to them, but to swell the profits of depos- 
ite banks ana support a band of useless public officers. 55 

"A distribution to the people is impracticable and unjust 
in other respects. It would be taking one man's property 
and giving it to another. Such would be the unavoidable 
result of a rule of equality, (and none other is spoken of, 
or would be likely to be adopted,) inasmuch as there is no 
mode by which the amount of individual contributions of 
our citizens to the public revenue can be ascertained. We 
know that they contribute unequally; and a rule, therefore, 
that would distribute to them equally would be liable to 
all the objections which apply to the principle of an equal 
division of property. To make the general government 
the instrument of carrying this odious principle into effect, 
would be at once to destroy the means of its usefulness, 
and change the character designed for it by rhe framers of 
the constitution. 5 ' 

"But the more extended and injurious consequences 
likely to result from a policy which would collect a surplus 
revenue for ihe purpose of distributing it, may be forcibly 
illustrated by an examination of the effects already produc- 



58 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ed by the present deposite act. This act, although certain- 
ly designed to secure the safe-keeping of the public rev- 
enue, is not entirely free in its tendencies from many of 
the objections which apply to this principle of distribution. 
The government had, without necessity, received from the 
people a large surplus, which, instead of being employed 
as heretofore, and returned to them by means of the pub- 
lic expenditure, was deposited with sundry banks. These 
banks proceeded to make loans upon this surplus, and thus 
converted it into banking capital; and in this manner it has 
tended to multiply bank charters, and had a great agency 
in producing a spirit of wild speculation. The possession 
and use of the property out of which this surplus was cre- 
ated belonged to the people; but the government has trans- 
ferred its possession to incorporated banks, whose interest 
and effort it is to make large profits cut of its use. This 
process need only be stated to show its injustice and bad 
policy." 

"And the same observations apply to the influence which 
is produced by the steps necessary to collect as well as to 
distribute such a revenue. About three-fifths of all the 
duties on imports are paid in the city of New York; but 
it is obvious that the means to pay those duties are drawn 
from every part of the union Every citizen, in every state, 
who purchases and consumes an article which has paid a 
duty at that port, contributes to the accumulating mass. 
The surplus collected there must, therefore, be made up of 
moneys or property withdrawn from other points and other 
states. Thus the wealth and business of every region from 
which these surplus funds proceed must be, to some ex- 
tent injured, while that of the place where the funds are 
concentrated and employed in banking, are proportionably 
extended. But, both in making the transfer of the funds 
which are first necessary to pay the duties and collect the 
surplus, and in making the re-transfer which becomes ne- 
cessary when the time arrives for the distribution of that 
surplus, there is a considerable period when the funds can- 
not be brought into use; and it is manifest that besides the 
loss inevitable from such an operation, its tendency is to 
produce fluctuations in the business of the country, which 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 59- 

are always productive of speculation and detrimental to the 
interest of regular trade. Argument can scarcely be ne- 
cessary to show that a measure of this character ought not 
to receive further legislative encouragement.' 3 

* * v * * * «Let it be assumed, for the 
sake of argument, that the surplus moneys to be deposited 
with the states have been collected and belong to them in 
the ratio of their federal representative population — an as- 
sumption founded upon the fact that any deficiencies in 
our future revenue, from imports and public lands, must be 
made up by direct taxes collected from the states in that 
ratio. It is proposed to distribute the surplus, say $30,- 
000,000, not according to the ratio in which it has been 
collected and belongs to the people of the states, but in 
that of iheir vote in the colleges of electors of president 
and vice-president. The effect of a distribution upon that 
ratio, is shown by the annexed table, marked A." 

"By the ratio of direct taxation, for example, the state 
of Delaware, in the collection of $30,000,000 of revenue, 
would pay into the Treasury $189,716; and, in the distri- 
bution of $30,000,000, she would receive back from the 
government, according to the ratio of the deposite bill, the 
sum of $306,122; and similar results would follow the 
comparison between the small and the large states through- 
out the Union; thus realising to the small states an advan- 
tage which would be doubtless as unacceptable to them 
as a motive for incorporating the principle in any system 
which would produce it, as it would be inconsistent with 
the rights and expectations of large states." 

* * "By the watchful eye of self- 
interest, the agents of the people in the state government* 
are represented and kept within the limits of a just econo- 
my. But if the necessity of levying the taxes be taken 
from those who make the appropriations, and thrown upon 
a more distant and less responsible set of public agents, 
who have power to approach the people by an indirect and 
stealthy taxation, there is reason to fear that prodigality will 
soon supersede those characteristics which have thus far 
made us look with so much pride and confidence to the 
state governments as the main stay of our union and liber- 



CO POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ty. The state legislatures, instead of studying to restrict 
their state expenditures to the smallest possible sum, will 
claim credit for their profusion and harrass the general gov* 
ernment for increased supplies. Practically, there would 
soon be but one taxing power, and that vested in a body of 
men far removed from the people, in which the farming and 
mechanic interests would scarcely be represented. The 
states would gradually lose their purity as well as their in- 
dependence; they would not dare to murmur at the pro- 
ceedings of the general government, lest they should lose 
their supplies*, all would be merged in practical consolida- 
tion, cemented by wide-spread corruption, which could on- 
ly be eradicated by one of those bloody revolutions which 
occasionally overthrow the despotic systems of the old 
world. In all the other aspects in which I have been able 
to look at the effect of such a principle of distribution up- 
on the best interests of the country, I can see nothing to 
compensate for the disadvantages to which I have advert- 
ed. If we consider the protective duties, which are, in a 
great degree, the source of the surplus revenue, beneficial 
to one section of the union and predjudicial to another, 
there is no corrective for the evil in such a plan of distri- 
bution. On the contrary, there is reason to fear that all 
the complaints which have sprung from this cause would 
be aggravated. Every one must be sensi ble that a distribu- 
tion of the surplus must beget a disposition to cherish the 
means which create it; and any system, therefore, into 
which it enters, mwst have a powerful tendency to increase 
rather than diminish the tariff. If it were even admitted 
that the advantages of such a system could be made equal 
to all the sections of the Union, the reasons already call- 
ing for a reduction of the revenue would, nevertheless, lose 
none of their force; for it will always be improbable that 
an intelligent and virtuous community can consent to raise 
a surplus for the mere purpose of dividing it, diminished 
as it inevitably must be by the expenses of the various ma- 
chinery necessary to the process." 

'•The safest and simplest mode of obviating the difficul- 
ties which have been mentioned is to collect only revenue 
eaougfa to meet the wants of the government, and let the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. U 

people kee|> the balance of their property in their own 
hands, to use for their own profit. Each state will then 
support its own government, and contribute its due share 
to the support of the general government. There would 
be no surplus to cramp and lessen the resources of individ- 
ual wealth and enterprise, and the banks would be left to 
their ordinary means. Whatever agitations and fluctuations 
might arise from our unfortunate paper system, they could 
never be attributed, justly or unjustly, to the action of the 
federal government. There would be some guaranty that 
the spirit of wild speculation which seeks to convert the 
surplus revenue into banking capital, would be effectually 
checked, and the scenes of demoralizing which are now so 
prevalent through the land would disappear." 

u Without desiring to conceal that the experience and ob- 
servations of the last two years have operated a partial 
change in my views upon this interesting subject, it is, nev- 
ertheless, regretted that the suggestions made by me in my 
annual messages of 1829 and 1830 have been greatly mis- 
understood. At that time, the great struggle began against 
that latitudinarian construction of the Constitution which 
authorises the unlimited appropriation of the Union to in- 
ternal improvements within the states, tending to invest in 
the hands and place under the control of the general gov- 
ernment ali the principal roads and canals of the country, 
in violation of state rights, and in derogation of state au- 
thority. At the same time, the condition of the manufac- 
turing interests was such as to create an apprehension that 
the duties on imports could not, without extensive mischief, 
be reduced in season to prevent the accumulation of a con- 
siderable surplus after the payment of the national debt. 
In view of the dangers of such a surplus, and in preference 
to its application to internal improvements, in derogation 
of the rights and powers of the states, the suggestion of 
an amendment to the Constitution to authorise its distribu- 
tion was made* It was an alternative for what were deemed 
greater evils — a temporary resort to relieve an overburthen- 
ed treasury, until the government couid, without a sudden 
and destructive revulsion in the business of the country, 
gradually return to the first principle of raising no more 



$i POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

revenue from the people in taxes than is necessary for its 
economical support. Even that alternative was not spoken 
of but in connection with an amendment of the Constitu- 
tion. No temporary inconvenience can justify the exer- 
cise of a prohibited power, or a power not granted by that 
instrument; and it was from a conviction that the power to 
distribute even a temporary surplus of revenue is of that 
character, that it was suggested only in connection with an 
appeal to the source of all legal power in the general gov- 
ernment — the states which have established it. No such 
appeal has been taken; and, in my opinion, a distribution 
of the surplus revenue by Congress, either to the states or 
to the people, is to be considered as among the prohibi- 
tions of the Constitution. As already intimated, my views 
have undergone a change, so far as to be convinced that 
no alteration in the Constitution in this respect is wise or 
expedient. The influence of an accumulating surplus upon 
the legislation of the general government and the states; 
its effect upon the credit system of the country, producing 
dangerous extensions and ruinous contractions, fluctuations 
in the price of property, rash speculations, idleness, extrav- 
agance, and a deterioration of morals, have taught us the 
important lesson, that any transient mischief which mar 
attend the reduction of our revenue to the wants of the 
government is to be borne in preference to an overflowing 
Treasury. 55 

Willingly would the writer have avoided the labour of 
so lengthy a quotation, if justice to president Jackson had 
not required that his arguments against a protective tariff 
and the distribution of a surplus revenue among the states, 
should be fully quoted; and by doing him justice protect 
himself against a charge of making a garbled quotation, 
which would have been inexcusable. The argument in 
the foregoing extract against the protective system is the 
fountain from which ail the arguments of its opponents 
flow. They are entitled to the most deliberate, impartial 
and scrutinizing consideration that can be bestowed upon 
them. First, as emanating from the thta political head of 
the nation, in the most imposing official form. Secondly, 
from the principles involved, being at variance with the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 63 

principles upon which the government had been previous- 
ly administered from its formation. A new principle is 
boldly asserted, which, if correct, the government has spent 
millions of dollars for which the people have not received 
one cent benefit; hut have been injured beyond the amount 
of money thrown away. 

Two premises are assumed as facts— -first, that the 
duties on importations are wholly 'paid by the people of 
the United States, as positively as if the revenue was raised 
by direct tax; and that it is not paid by the producers or 
manufacturers oj foreign nations from which the importa- 
tions are made. 

Secondly — That to return to the states, or the people, 
any surplus revenue, improperly drawn from them, would 
produce "wide-spread corruption." 

Not a single argument is used by Gen, Jackson to prove 
that his premises are correct; but, assuming them as such, 
without any demonstration at all, he has dwelt upon tha 
injustice of the first and the demoralizing effect of the sec- 
ond. The first evidence against the premises assumed in 
both cases shall be the testimony of Gen. Jackson himself, 
foleranljf given, and that too, after his mind had undergone 
a change upon the subject. He shall be relieved from his 
sentiments and arguments previously given in support of a 
protective tariff, and his reference to the sentiments of pres- 
idents Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, which 
he referred to as confirming his own. Now for the cross- 
examination of General Jackson. In the message under 
consideration is a paragraph in the following words: — 

"The blessings of peace have not been secured by Spain. 
Our connections with that country are on the best footing 
with the exception of the burdens still imposed upon 
our commerce with her possessions out of Europe.' 5 

If the Tariff laid by our government upon the importa- 
tions from foreign nations, be a tax upon our own peopU 
who purchase and use them, it irresistibly follows that the 
duties imposed on our exportations by foreign governmenti 
are paid by the people under those governments who use 
Mem, and it matters not to us whether our exports to for- 
cig n nations are admitted free of duty, or whether our flour 



64 POILTICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

pays a duty of ten dollars a barrel and a correspond! ng 
duty on all other exports. If the first premises assum ed 
are correct, the last sentence in relation to Spain, should 
have run thus: — "Our connetions with that country remain 
on the best footing, except the heavy burdens imposed 
upon her own citizens in support of our commerce with 
her possessions out of Europe, which while it does not af- 
fect us, enlists our sympathy for the people of Spain who 
labour under such burdens imposed by their own govern- 
ment." Gen. Jackson and all his predecessors made re- 
peated representations to Congress of the restrictions and 
"burdens" imposed upon our exportations by foreign na- 
tions; and ministers have been appoimed under every ad- 
ministration, and sent to foreign nations for the purpose of 
making commercial treaties, to admit our importations at 
as low a duty as possible* The salaries of those ministers 
and their attendants, in connection with all other expenses 
attending their missions, must, since the foundation of the 
government, have cost many millions of dollars, all which 
was a useless expenditure, if the premises assumed by- 
president Jackson are correct. 

Suppose that all the commercial revenue which has been 
raised since the foundation of the government had been 
derived from a capitation tax on the emigrants from foreign 
nations, would there not be as much propriety, or impro- 
priety, in saying that the capitation tax was paid by the 
natives and not by the foreigners, as to say that the tariff 
duties are wholly paid by consumers in the United States, 
and nothing paid by the foreign producers and exporters? 
Some of our friends in the country have to pass through 
toll-gates to reach our market-house, and yet they cannot 
get a higher price for their butter and other articles than 
those who reach the market-house without passing gates 
and paying tribute. Those agriculturists who send their 
surplus to market by the way of pikes, rail-roads and ca- 
nals, do not, cannot, sell their produce a shade higher than 
those whose locality enable them to send their produce to 
market without touching a pike, rail-road, or canal. Who 
ever saw the price of flour stated thus in a Baltimore, or 
in any other paper: "$6,0U if brought to market on a free 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, S5 

?oad, or $6,25 to $5,50 per barrel, if brought in on a pike, 
railroad or canal, proportioned to the toll paid? The advo- 
cates of internal improvement never said or believed that 
it would increase the prices of surplus productions in our 
seaport towns or in foreign markets, but that it would fa- 
cilitate the transportation from the place of production te 
market and reduce the price of transportation. But a bar- 
rel of flour sent to market by way of a pike, a railroad or 
canal, will not command a higher price than a barrel of 
flour sent on a free road. The same will apply to all other 
produce. The opinion of some persons that railroads and 
canals operate against those farmers who can send their 
produce to market by their own teams, is absurd. All who 
are opposed to railroads and canals, are advocates for pikes 
or pave roads. Suppose that a barrel of flour could be for- 
warded by a railroad or canal at the rate of ten cents for 
every fifty miles, (and other produce at the same rate,) and 
plaster brought on the return trip at the rate of one dollar 
a ton for every fifty miles, and everything else required at 
the same price, it could not injure the farmer, who could 
send his produce to market by his own team, because he 
would have both the power and the right of deciding which 
would be the most to his interest, to wagon to market his 
own produce, or to keep his wagon and team at home, em* 
ployed or unemployed, and pay the price of transportation 
by the canals and railroads. But it is said by some, that 
the extension of internal improvements beyond paved roads 
has been a serious injury to those who depended alone upon 
wagoning for a living, and that wagon taverns have been 
injured. In all well regulated governments and societies, 
the interest of the many have a preference to the interests 
of the fsw. Disclaiming anything invidious or disparag- 
ing to any class of citizens, it would not be more absurd 
to say that a small minority should govern an overwhelm- 
ing democracy of numbers, than to say that the interests of 
those who exclusively live by wagoning, and those who live 
by keeping wagon taverns, should be supported by sacri- 
ficing the interests of ail other classes of citizens. But it 
is doubtful whether there can be found in the United States 
a single man who cleared anything from wagoning exclu* 



66 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

sively. But admit that one or more can be found who 
cleared anything by wagoning, exclusively, the number is 
certainly small, compared with the number who found it a 
sinking business. 

General Jackson, in his third annual message, second 
paragraph, uses the following beautiful and sensible lan- 
guage, on the subject of internal improvement: 

"Agriculture, the first and most important occupation of 
man, has compensated the labours of the husbandman with 
plentiful crops of all the varied productions of our exten- 
sive country. Manufactures have been established in which 
the funds of capitalists find a profitable investment, and 
which give employment and subsistence to a numerous 
and increasing body of industrious and dexterous mechan- 
ics. The labourer is rewarded by high wages in the con- 
struction cf works of internal improvement, which are ex- 
tending with unprecedented rapidity. Science is steadily 
penetrating the recesses of nature, and disclosing her se- 
crets, while the ingenuity of free minds is subjecting the 
elements to the power of man, and making each new con- 
quest auxiliary to his comfort. By our mails, whose speed 
is regularly increased, and whose routes are every year ex- 
tended, the communication of public intelligence and pri- 
vate business, is rendered frequent and safe; the inter- 
course between distant cities, which formerly required 
weeks to accomplish, is now effected in a few days, and 
in the construction of railroads and the application of 
steam power, we have a reasonable prospect that the ex- 
treme parts of our country will be so mach approximated, 
and those most insolated by the obstacles of nature ren- 
dered so accessible, as to remove an apprehension some- 
times entertained, that the great extent of the union would 
endanger its permanent existence. 55 

When president Jackson penned the message from which 
the foregoing paragraph is quoted we were flourishing under 
a protective tariff; our prosperity was onward; the national 
debt was diminishing in proportion as^ali classes of society 
were advancing in prosperity and solid comfort. It is not 
asserted that the protective tariff was the cause of the rain 
which was poured down by an all-wise Providence — for it 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 67 

^rains upon the just and the unjust 5 ' — but it is contended 
that the effects of the system stimulated all classes of soci- 
ety to industry and laudable enterprise. In the sublime 
language of the president, proof of its effects was given 
in "subjecting the elements to the power of man, and 
making each new conquest auxiliary to his comfort.'" Rea- 
son and revelation unite in teaching us that we need not 
expect any special blessings from our heavenly Father, un- 
less we use means which he has bestowed upon us to ob- 
tain them. The prayers of the husbandman would be un- 
answered (and they ought to be,) unless he first used the 
plough and attended to his avocation. Just so with all 
other classes of society. In vain may we expect to be re- 
stored to that sound state of onward prosperity, in a nation- 
al and individual point of view, from which we have been 
withdrawn, until we have a protecting tariff. Experience 
will ultimately triumph over party and prejudice; the intel- 
ligence, virtue and patriotism of the great body of the peo- 
ple will triumph over party politicians; the people will cat- 
echise their candidates in reference to measures, not par- 
ty names. By the weight of a party name, many candi- 
dates have reached office; but the signs of the times indi- 
cate that the political issue to be enjoined will be between 
conflicting measures; the jurors will consist of the great 
body of the people who are honest and intelligent; and po- 
litical party names will, it is fairly believed, have no more 
weight in their decision than the names of parties to a civil 
suit in a court have with the jury. 

The reader may consider that the writer has, improperly, 
digressed from the subject — perhaps he has; one more tal- 
ented might have made a different and better arrange- 
ment; but adopting a system suited to his capacity, he de- 
termined to embrace the tariff and internal improvement 
systems in the same chapter, and consider each ;n connec- 
tion with the other. 

To enable the candid inquirer to form a correct opinion 
of the effect of a protective tariff upon all classes in our 
wide-spread country, industriously engaged in various pur- 
suits, all having a tendency to promote the general good if 
not counteracted by the policy of foreign governments or 
E2 



68 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

that of our own, it is necessary that he should study the 
principles of proportion, attraction and repulsion, gravity^ 
mechanism, and agriculture, and arrive, thereby, as near 
as possible to an equilibrium. The author might con- 
tinue the category of ideas embracing principles necessary 
to be understood and properly applied in support of the im- 
portant measure now under consideration. 

The writer will take into consideration the effect of a pro- 
tecting tariff upon imported hats, and what we shall say in 
reference to them will apply to all other articles which we 
can manufacture in superabundance. He has selected hats, 
not because he wishes to give hatters a preference over any 
other class of mechanics, but it was necessary to specify 
some articles, and if he had named saddles, boots or shoes T 
the question might have been asked, why were bats not 
^ selected? With tea, coffee and other necessary agricultu- 
ral articles which cannot be produced in the United States, 
we have nothing to do. We might as well talk about con- 
structing a railroad from New York to London, as to speak 
of a protective tariff on necessary agricultural articles, 
which neither the soil or climate of the United States will 
produce. 

The often repeated objection to a protective tariff, that 
it is a Whig measure, cannot have the slightest weight with 
men whose minds are free from prejudice and who will 
decide the question as honest men settle their accounts — 
by striking balances upon the arithmetical principles of ad- 
dition and subtraction. It is the writer's duty, as being im- 
partial, to state, in justice to the Democrats, that many of 
them are uncompromising advocates of a protective tariff- 
At many congressional elections, the opposing party can- 
didates unequivocally declared themselves in favour of the 
system. If it was a test question at succeeding elections, 
unconnected with any other consideration, every district 
north of the Potomac, with' few exceptions, would go for 
protection to home industry. The same may be said of 
the great west, and the south is divided. Every man in 
this congressional district who is informed upon this ail- 
important subject, knows that a majority of the people are 
in favour of it. The interests of the agriculturists and 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 69 

mechanics are so completely entwined with each other that 
they cannot be separated without injury to both. 

Two hatters have localities surrounded by such different 
and conflicting circumstances, that one of them sells his 
hats at fifty cents, each, higher than the other. But the 
one who sells at the higher price vends but two hundred 
annually and the other sells a thousand. Hence, the one 
who sells at the lower price, clears the more money; it 
then follows that the profit on a single hat is of small im- 
portance to the hatter— that it is to the quantity he sells 
he must look for support, and not to the profit on a single 
hat. And the same will apply to all the various branches 
of mechanism. In all our cities, towns, villages, and in the 
most isolated stores we find imported hats, and those whu 
buy them generally purchase at ^stores and not at the hat 
shops. Imported and-domestic hats are retailed almost 
exclusively at stores, and both must bear a price propor- 
tioned to quality; the result is, that domestic hatters are 
limited in the number they manufacture; not because hats 
are not wanting, but because the tariff on imported hats is 
so low, that thousands, perhaps millions, are annually im- 
ported from foreign work-shops, thrown into our markets, 
and large sums of money annually carried out of our 
country for articles which our own mechanics could and 
would furnish in superabundance, of equal quality and at 
a lower price, if they were so protected from foreign com- 
petition as to get sale for all they could make. If, indeed, 
the foreign hats are not sold for cash, such articles only 
are purchased from us as the foreigner would prefer to 
cash; foreign nations will take nothing from us which is 
not indispensable, except upon such terms as give them an 
advantage in the exchange. Now, suppose, that Congress, 
with a view of reducing the number of imported hats 
without reducing the amount of revenue duties upon them, 
but with a view of increasing the demand for domestic 
manufactured hats, and affording a market for them, should 
double the tariff* on imported hats, is it not reasonable 
to conclude that the domestic hatters would increase the 
number of hats previously made at their shops, that jour- 
neymen hatters could obtain employment and apprentices 



70 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

obtain situations? We next suppose that doubling the* 
tariff did not reduce the importations; what would have 
been the consequence? The revenue on hats would have 
been doubled without an increase or decrease in the num- 
ber imported; and the number of domestic hats would 
have been increased. Under such circumstances no man 
in his senses could believe that the price of hats would 
have been advanced when they had increased in number 
at, our own shops. We next suppose that Congress, again, 
doubled the duty on imported hats, and that it had the ef- 
fect of reducing the number of importations one half, 
whilst the revenue would have remained just what it was, 
previous to the last advance, and double what it was, pre- 
vious to adding- the first protecting tariff. Now can any 
man who will impartially consider the subject, doubt that 
the increasing of the tariff on imported hats would not 
have increased the number manufactured in our own shops'? 
Can any calculating man who studies the principles of pro- 
portion, action and counteraction, suppose that the price 
of hats would have been increased by affording such a 
protection to home industry? Taking into consideration 
that we possess all the materials for making hats, boots, 
shoes, saddles and various other articles, the use of which 
has rendered them indispensable, and an abundance of 
worthy mechanics, can it be doubted that the increase of 
manufactured articles in our own shops would reduce the 
price! Bear in mind, also, the vast sum of money which 
would annually be retained in the country — a revenue pre- 
served sufficient for the support of the government. What 
has been advanced in support of protection to the produc- 
tions of mechanism specified, will apply to all other im- 
ported articles and commodities, which can, with conve- 
nience be manufactured to any required extent by our own 
mechanics and from our own raw materials. It follows 
then upon arithmetical principles that the natural tenden- 
cy of a protecting tariff is to counteract the policy of for- 
eign nations and to reduce the price of domestic articles 
of manufacture, and increase the wealth, prosperity, happi- 
ness and social condition of all classes of society. 

We next consider the bearing of the tariff imposed by 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 7t 

foreign nations upon our exports. An American shipment 
of tobacco is made to a Spanish, or any other foreign port, 
and sold at twenty dollars a hundred, but in the language 
of president Jackson it is "burdened" by a duty of ten 
dollars for every hundred pounds, which, being paid by 
the shipper, leaves him ten dollars on every hundred pounds. 
Now, if the duty were but one dollar per hundred weight 
the shipper would receive nineteen dollars for every hun- 
dred pounds after paying the duty: — a vast difference in 
the sale of a thousand hogsheads. Now if it be said that 
such a tariff would act like a two edged sword, cutting on 
both sides — that it would be a "burden" on the American 
shipper and also on the foreign consumers — we answer 
that if the people of the nation which imposed the "bur- 
den" complained of by Gen. Jackson, could raise tobacco 
as conveniently and abundantly as corn (including all 
kinds of grain) is produced in the United States, that so 
far from the high tariff being a "burden'' on the foreign 
consumers, it would reduce the price. How? Answer:— 
Because, it would create competition among the growers 
of tobacco, who, knowing that the tariff would limit and 
greatly reduce the quantity which otherwise would be im- 
ported, would secure to them the home market, and the 
large quantity which they could raise and would produce 
would compensate them for the low price arising from 
the quantity raised', and the price would bemnch less 
fluctuating than it would be if regulated by foreign impor- 
tations. Fluctuations in the prices of domestic or foreign 
articles are productive of inconvenience to all and often ru- 
inous to prudent and cautious men. 

We next take a shipment of flour to a foreign port, 
which is sold at ten dollars a barrel and pays a duty of 
five dollars, and leaves five dollars a barrel to the shipper. 
If the duty was but one dollar a barrel, the shipper would 
receive nine dollars for*ach barrel after paying the duty: 
— a vast difference on a shipment of ten thousand barrels. 

Next we take a cargo of cotton. If it is shipped to a 
manufacturing nation, the soil and climate of which are 
such that cotton cannot be raised, the tariff is adapted to 
Jhe case. If the nation has colonies in which cotton is 



72 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

raised sufficient to supply it, a preference is given to the 
colonies, and our exhortations of cotton are subjected to a 
tariff similar to that spoken of on our exportations of to- 
bacco and flour. But if the manufacturing nation has no 
such colonies, imported cotton is admitted from the United 
States or some other cotton growing country lightly "bur- 
dened" and generally paid for in manufactured fabrics. — 

What we have said of tobacco, flour and cotton will ap- 
ply to rice, lumber and all other exported articles. 

The writer knows something of the principle of a game 
called snap. The cream of the game is this: — if those 
who play at it continue as long as their money lasts, the 
game-keeper is certain to pocket the ivhole of it. Just so 
with the tariff imposed upon our exports by foreign nations 
which have constantly been playing upon us the game of 
snap — their custom-house officers are the game keepers 
and they have pocketed a large portion of our money, and 
fleeced us of most of our exports. 

We next contrast our tariff with that of foreign nations* 
An importation of fabrics arrives consisting of cloths. The 
first quality of broad cloth is sold or valued at the custom 
house at eight dollars a yard and pays a tariff of one dol- 
lar and sixty cents a yard, which leaves the foreign impor- 
ter six dollars and forty cents a yard after paying the duty. 
Now, if the duty were four dollars a yard, he would have 
but four dollars a yard after paying duty, and two dollars 
and forty cents more, on each yard, would be paid into the 
Treasury. We next take the second quality which is sold 
or valued at six dollars a yard ad valorem, and pays a du- 
ty of one dollar and twenty cents a yard and leaves the 
foreign importer four dollars and eighty cents a yard after 
paying the duty. U the duty were three dollars a yard, he 
would only have three dollars a yard left after paying the 
tariff, and one dollar and eighty cents more on each yard 
would go to the Treasury. The intelligent reader will ap- 
ply the arithmetical principle throughout the cargo; and 
then do not forget to apply the rule and principles to all 
fabrics and articles of every kind which can be produced 
and manufactured, toany required extent, in our own coun- 
try and by our owe agriculturalists^ shepherds and n&echaBr 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 73 

ics. Upon the principles of a protecting tariff, discrimi- 
nately and judiciously laid, some articles would be admit- 
ted free of duty; others, lightly touched; and others, heavi- 
ly. Those who go against a protective tariff, contend for 
the unsound and withering principle that a dollar's worth 
of tea or coffee, neither of which can be produced in the 
United States, should pay as much duty as a pair of shoes 
valued at a dollar. Is this sound policy? What say you, 
farmers and mechanics? If the government gives a just 
preferecce to our own cordwainers and other mechanics, 
they, in turn, will purchase from the farmers provisions for 
their families, and appear at their market-houses, with bas- 
kets on their arms, presenting cheerful countenances. Why 
is it that so many mechanics apply for the benefit of the 
insolvent laws, whilst others are out of employment? Js it 
for the want of industry or sound morals? No. It is be- 
cause government does not protect them from foreign com- 
petition. Our mechanics do not ask for extravagant prices 
for their labour and manufactured articles; they only ask for 
employment. 

Sometime ago the writer purchased a pair of shoes, at a 
shop, for which he paid two dollars and seventy-five cents. 
Me intimated that he thought the price too high, and asked 
the mechanic if he could not sell them lower; he appeared 
disposed to evade the question; the writer renewed it, and 
he answered, with evident reluctance, "that if he could 
sell all he could make, he could afford to take less." — > 
There the conversation ended; but he spoke volumes in 
support of the protective system. Were it not for the vast 
quantity of imported shoes, the price of domestic would 
be greatly reduced, and the profits of the mechanics in- 
creased by the additional number which they would sell; 
they would pay their debts in money or in their manufac- 
tured articles, and not by the benefit of the insolvent Jaws; 
the interests of our agriculturists and mechanics would be 
united like partners in business, and both classes could 
not fail to prosper. 

But it may be asked how the protective system would 
act upon an American merchant who would purchase fab- 
rics and various articles of merchandize from a foreign 



74 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

nation, and import them into the United Stales? The an- 
swer is easy, and is at hand. The merchants as well 
know their interest as do farmers and mechanics know 
theirs — not better. A merchant well knowing the duties 
which the imported articles would have to pay at an Amer- 
ican custom-house, would only purchase at such a reduced 
price as would subject the foreign merchant or manufac- 
turer to the payment of the duty; or, if, for argument sake, 
he acted differently, the loss would fail upon him, not up- 
on the consumers. If an American merchant should act 
so unwisely as to purchase a cargo of coal at Liverpool, 
and transport it to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he alone would 
pay for his folly. 

It should be borne in mind that it is not the money ex- 
pended and circulated in a country that impoverishes it, 
and paralyses the physical and moral actions of the people, 
but it is the money that is sent out oj it, or locked up in 
vaults and withheld jrom circulation. Whereever money 
circulates freely, the energies of the whole people are use- 
fully developed, and are potent, and a wholesome state of 
morals exists. In all countries in which money is con- 
centrated in the hands of the/ew, the many are sunk in 
human misery and degradation — there is not a single ex- 
ception. Besides "the labourer is worthy of his hire,'' 
and no man is so industrious as to work for nothing and 
find himself, rather than to be idle. It is as much the 
duty of government to adopt and carry out measures with 
a view to stimulate the people to industry, the foundation 
of health and sound morals, and to secure to them the 
fruits of their labour, by protecting them from foreign 
competition, as it is the duty of parents to instruct their 
children in industry and business habits, and impress upon 
them the importance of good morals. 

The second position assumed by president Jackson is 
"that to return to the states or the people, any surplus rev- 
enue improperly drawn from them would produce "wide- 
spread corruption." This is a new principle in ethics, 
subsequently contradicted by the venerable ex-president 
himself, by his urging the passage of a bill (now, at the 
time of writing,) pending before Congress, asking the re- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 75 

turn to him of a thousand dollars — a fine imposed upon 
him by judge Hall, for establishing martial law at New Or- 
leans during the late war, and which he alleges was im- 
properly and unjustly abstracted from him. If the bill 
should pass, and he receives the money, he will sanction 
a principle which he, in his eighth annual message, de- 
clared would produce ^wide-spread corruption." If gov- 
ernment or an individual improperly and unjustly takes 
from one money or property, its return would be but jus- 
tice, and his receiving it would not be an immoral act, 
nor can it be fairly said that its reception could have a 
tendency to corrupt him. Upon the principle advanced 
in the message, payment ought to be withheld from an 
honest creditor, because the payment might corrupt him; 
and property or money, forcibly and unjustly taken, ought 
to be withheld, to prevent corrupting the rightful owner, 
But if the principle advanced by president Jackson is cor- 
rect, why not strike at the root of the evil, and eradicate 
it, by prohibiting the importation of such articles as can be 
produced or manufactured in our own country with con- 
venience, and to any required amount, and admit such 
necessary articles, only, as would raise a tarifTsufficient for 
the support of government and thus prevent the wolf from 
entering the sheep-foldl 

The maxim that it is u against the genius of our free in- 
stitutions to lock up in vaults the treasure of the nation, 7 ' 
is sound. But the conclusion that the distribution of mo- 
ney among the people, which it is alleged was unnecessa- 
rily drawn, would create u wide spread corruption, " is truly 
a paradox. The reference made to the banks making 
large profits out of the deposits will be attended to in the 
chapter upon banks. 

The references made to table A. renders its publication 
unnecessary. The distribution bill proposed to distribute 
ihe surplus money among the states in proportion to the 
number of electoral votes cast by each state, for president 
and vice president, instead of a distribution proportioned 
to the number of inhabitants, by which Delaware and oth- 
er small states, each having as many senators as the large 
states, and an elector for each senator, would receive a 



76 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

fraction more than their proportion. "Inequality is not 
always injustice," said president Jackson, in his second an- 
nual message, recommending distribution upon (he very 
principle which he now denounces as calculated to pro- 
duce "wide spread corruption."!!! The inequality com- 
plained of could have been removed by a bill providing 
for the distribution in proportion to the number of inhabi- 
tants. The principle of "penny wise and pound foolish," 
and the practice of "straining at a gnat and swallowing a 
camel," have never been productive of great benefits. 

The following letter from Gen. Jackson contains senti- 
ments which are entertained bv the advocates of a protec- 
tive tariff. The following facts should be considered with 
the contents of the letter. At the period of its date the 
author of it, together with Mr. Crawford, the regularly 
nominated Republican candidate, Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, 
were before the people for the presidency, and the elec- 
tion took place the ensuing fall. Secondly, it was indus- 
triously circulated by the jriends of Gen. Jackson. Third 
and lastly, we have his authority for saying that his senti- 
ments did not undergo a change until after he was re-elec- 
ted in ? 32, and after the national debt was liquidated. In 
the lengthy quotation in the preceeding pages, from his 
last annual message of Dec. '36, he speaks of a change of 
sentiment upon the tariff question, to which the leader can 
turn. Ten years before the people as the advocate of a 
protective tariff; elected and le-elected as an advocate of 
the protective system; under its operation paid off the pub- 
lic debt, left a surplus of nearly forty millions, and then 
denounced the system as calculated to corrupt the people 
and ruin the country. It is considered the height of in- 
gratitude for a man to turn his heel against his benefactor, 
after having received from him ail he asked for, and then 
denounce him as having been influenced in his acts of 
generosity and kindness by impure motives. The writer 
does not impeach or question the motives of Gen. Jackson 
for abandoning the protective system which aided in bring- 
ing him into power, paid off the national debt and stimu- 
lated the people to industry and laudable enterprise. The 
opinions and sentiments of all men are more or less formed 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 77 

by surrounding circumslances, and their peculiar cast of 
mind. An infant, the offspring ot Christian parents, trans- 
ported to Morocco, raised and educated there, would be a 
Mussulman; and an infant, the offspring of Mahometan pa- 
rents, transferred to the United States, raised and educated 
here, would be a Christian. 

GEN. JACKSON TO DR. COLMAN. 

Washington, April 20, 1824. 

Heaven smiled upon and gave us liberty and indepen- 
dence. That same Providence has blessed us with means 
of national independence and national defence* If we 
omit or refuse to use the gifts which He has extended to 
us, we deserve not the continuation of His blessing. He 
has filled our mountains and our plains with minerals — with 
lead, iron and copper, and given us a climate and soil for 
the growing of hemp and wool. These being the great 
materials of our national defence, they ought to have ex- 
tended to them adequate and fair protection: that our man - 
ufacturers and laborers may be placed in a fair competition 
with those of Europej and that we may have within our 
country a supply of those leading and important articles so 
essential to war. 

I will ask what is the real situation of the agricultural- 
ist? Where has the American farmer a market for his sur- 
plus produce? Except for cotton he has neither a foreign 
nor a home market. Does not this clearly prove, when 
there is no market at home or abroad, that there is too much 
labor employed in agriculture? Common sense at onee 
points out the remedy. Take from agriculture in the Uni- 
ted States six hundred thousand men, women and children, 
and you will at once give a market for more bread stuffs 
than all Europe now furnishes us. In short, sir, we have 
been too long subject to the policy of British merchants. 
It is time we should become a little more "Americanized," 
and instead of deeding paupers cod laborers of England, 
feed our own; or else, in a short time, by continuing our 
policy, we shall be rendered paupers ourselves. It is, there- 
fore, my opinion that a careful and judicious tariff is much 
wanted to pay our national debt, and to afford us means 
of that defence within ourselves on which the safety of our 



73 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

country depends; and last though not least, give a proper 
distribution to our labor, which must prove beneficial to the 
the happiness, independence, and wealth of the community. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, 

Your most obedient servant, 
ANDREW JACKSON. 
The opponents of the protective system, who are gov- 
erned by abstractions, regardless cf surrounding circum- 
stances, which govern and qualify abstractions, frequently 
refer to the oppressive effect of the British corn laws as a 
poser to the arguments in support of protection. But all 
our standards of language give different meanings to the 
words protection and oppression; they are not synonymous, 
Upon the principles of a protective tariff, as contended for 
by its advocates, the British corn laws ought to be repealed. 
What would be protective and beneficial in one country, 
would be oppressive aud distressing in an other, surround- 
ed by different and unavoidable circumstances, locality, 
soil and productions, extent and population. The limits 
of the British island are so small compared with its popu- 
lation, that, if every man on it had his pockets full of gold, 
a sufficiency of bread and other provisions could not, gen- 
erally, be procured for all the inhabitants, if importations 
were prohibited. Corn, the most productive of all grain in 
a genial soil and climate, cannot be successfully cultivated; 
and wheat is a precarious crop. Cobbett, and a few others, 
cultivated corn in England; but it was soon abandoned, as 
it was found that its cultivation decreased the quantity of 
grain raised. If the population of England was as small 
in proportion to its territory as is the population of the U- 
nited States, and as great a surplus of grain annually raised, 
the price would be so low that no foreign country could 
afford to export bread stuff to England, even if it were ad- 
mitted dutyfree, unless it was occasionally taken as ballast 
in place of sand. Such is the vast extent of territory of 
the United States, the variety of soil and climate, its gen- 
eral fertility, that a vast surplus of grain is annually pro- 
duced for exportation. And if the government were to adopt 
just such corn laws as they have in England, they would 
subject us to ridicule, but we would not hear of the labour- 



POILTICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 79 

ing class suffering for bread. Such laws could not raise 
the price of provisions in the United States. 

It would be cruel to reproach a man afflicted by a fever 
or any other bodily disease which he could not have avoid- 
ed; equally cruel, perhaps, would it be to reproach a man 
whose judgment is so completely superseded by party as 
to believe that if the United States were to enact just such 
corn laws as those of England, the labouring class would 
be pinched by hunger. Now, as the body of the people 
are honest, having no wish to deceive or be deceived, it is 
only necessary for them to lay aside party fetters and exer- 
cise their reasoning faculties. Suppose Congress should 
enact just such corn laws as those of England, would they 
reduce the quantity of grain and other provisions, increase 
prices o( provisions and produce hunger and distress among 
the labouring class? m The answer is submitted to the reader. 
Those who refer to the corn laws of England as affording 
an argument against a protective tariff, act as absurdly as 
they would by declaring that the proper mode to decide 
the question would be to lock up a number of men in pris- 
on, allow each, daily, an ounce of bread, and if it were not 
sufficient to suppcrt him, that the protective system ought 
to be abandoned. The protective system can be supported 
upon the principle of reason, and can only be opposed up- 
on the principle of party supplying the place of argument 
and established facts. 

If the opponents of protection can succeed it will be a 
triumphant victory for the governments of Europe, whose 
interest and object it is to destroy all our manufactories 
and work shops; and, whilst the great body of the people 
would suffer from the policy, they could derive no benefit 
from the motives of its advocates, however pure. The op- 
ponents of the protective system in Congress, represent the 
interest and intentions of the European governments, so 
far as the tariff question is concerned, as fully as could an 
equal number of members delegated by European govern- 
ments; but with greater effect. It is not the motives of 
the opponents of protection that are called into question; — 
but their measures. The writer daily meets in the streets 
of Hagerstown, worthy and industrious mechanics who are 



80 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 

out of employment, not on account of the British corn 
laws producing a scarcity of bread in the United States, but 
because the vast amount of importations deprive them of 
a market or demand for their manufactured articles. It 
will not furnish them with food and raiment to tell them 
that the opponents of protection are influenced by correct 
motives, and that they must "stick to their party, 5 ' even if 
their children should cry for bread, and, together with their 
parents, suffer from hunger and cold whilst surrounded by 
plenty. " If we were henceforth and forever cut off from 
commerce and communication with every other nation, we 
would stand in the relative position of a distinct ivorld, as 
much se, as if we were separated millions of miles from 
any other. As we can readily suppose such a case, what 
would be our situation? The present inhabitants would 
be deprived of some of the luxuries of life but our pos- 
terity would not. What is a luxury in one section of the 
world is not so in another. An apple in the West Indies 
is as great a luxury as an orange in Canada. 

It would be better for the United States to be placed in 
the situation supposed, than to adopt the policy of the op- 
ponents of protection, which, if carried out, will benefit 
stock jobbers and individuals of large capital — benefit one 
man and impoverish hundreds. The extent of our territo- 
ry, and its variety of soil and climate, are sufficient to af- 
ford all the necessaries and comforts of life; both food and 
raiment. The fact that this globe constitutes but one 
world, affords no argument against a protective tariff. — 
And desirable as it is to every philanthropist to have com- 
mercial and friendly intercourse with all the nations of the 
earth, that desire can only be founded in interest. Inter- 
ested motives, which are not founded in unjust principles, 
but purely of a national character, are laudable. The prefer- 
ence which parents give to their own offspring is not in- 
justice to the children of others; and, upon the same prin- 
ciple, it is the duty of our government, yea, it is the object 
for which it was formed, to protect and advance the pros- 
perity and comfort of its own subjects or constituents as 
far as practicable, without injustice to other nations. 



Political equilibrium. bi 



CHAPTER IV. 
On Protective Duties and National Economy. 

JOHN T. MASON. 

The writer will next review a speech delivered by Mr 
Mason in the House of Representatives, July 1842, in oppo- 
sition to the protective system. Not that he considers it the 
ablest speech that he has read upon the subject, but he con- 
siders it equal to any, and he is one of Mr. Mason's constit- 
uents. Cherishing a high personal respect for Mr. Mason, 
but differing with him politically, the writer would not make 
any reference to that gentleman's speech, were it not that, 
from the relative position of representative and constituent, 
silence might be considered disrespectful. Mr. Mason was 
chosen, at the first election after his age rendered him eligi- 
ble, a representative to Congress. As young birds, just fledg- 
ed, are eager to scar as high as the towering eagle, unaware 
of the danger which surrounds them, Mr. Mason was emu- 
lated by a laudable ambition to give such a development of 
the power of his mind and genius, in prose and poetry, a3 
would meet the expectation of his political friends. The 
substance of his arguments in opposition to Ike protection 
of American industry, appears to be concentrated in the 
quotation which follows: — 

c, Do the people believe that the tariff frees us from taxa- 
tion altogether? Surely not! Though no tax-gatherers sur- 
round their houses, yet, upon almost every article that they 
use or wear, they pay a tax in the shape of duties, It has 
been oft and oft asserted that duties do not raise the price 
of articles. Two gentlemen [Mr. Thompson of Indiana 
and Mr. Barnard of New York] laboured hard and ably 
\o prove this position. They rely upon facts as woith more 
than arguments. I am free to admit that facts have shown 
that the price of articles has not been raised with laying du- 
ties upon them. This is not, however, universally the case. 
But can these gentlemen, or any one else, show how the lay- 
ing of duties can have any such effect? It is said we have 
only to do with the fact, and not with how the fact is pro- 
duced They mistake the cause. The explanation of vb-e 



82 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

fact that the price of an article is not always increased, of is 
sometimes diminished simultaneously with the laying of the 
duty upon it, is not because a duty is laid upon it, but it is 
owing to the coincidence that the demand for that article is 
diminished, or its supply increased, in the same or in a great- 
er proportion than the duty laid upon it. When the price 
of an article is thus affected, take away the duty, and it will 
receive a further fall to the same extent of the duty precise- 
ly. Eut it may be said that the laying of duties affects the 
supply and demand, If this be true, no one has attempted 
to show it, nor can any one show it. Articles are referred to, 
and, with an air of triumph, we are told that their entire 
price is less even than the duty upon the article. This is 
very often true. But is it not easily seen, that in such cases 
the 1 duty is inoperative? Jt has been raised so high as to a- 
mount to an entire exclusion of the article from abroad — to 
a prohibition. You. may, then, pile upon it as much duty as 
you please, and you cannot affect it. The price is entirely 
regulated by our home supply. It is not necessary for me to 
•*dd that, when such results are produced, revenue ceases, at 
least from that quarter. It is absurd to contend that when 
an article of foreign production enters into our home con- 
sumption, and thereby becomes a legitimate object of taxa- 
tion, it is not affected by the duties which may be imposed 
upon it. It is, and just to the amount of the duty. Were 
it not so, we would be required to believe that a man might 
pay his taxes, and make money by the transaction. I wish 
some one of my colleagues, friendly to this measure, would 
introduce into Maryland such a system, by which, in paying 
off a little debt of fifteen millions, they would grow richer. 
I have heard, sir, of many a way of making money, but this 
is really the newest and most approved mode — that of wia- 
king money by paying taxes. It is well, sir, if it be true; 
for, as Shakespeare says, 

"Nothing comes arais3, so money comes withal." 

Again: How does this theory affect the protective system? 
Why, if it be true, it would break down the w«hoIe policy. 
It is the very foundation of the system that duties raise the 
price of imported articles; and, in the same proportion, ex- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

dude them, and give place for home-manufactured articles. 
!f this be not the case, how can a tariff operate as a protec- 
tion." 

The speech of Mr. Mason may be compared to a wilder- 
ness, rendered beautiful and attractive by its flowering shrub- 
bery, which conceals the quicksands, through which a man 
could only pass with great difficulty, after divesting himself 
of baggage, The language and well-turned periods cannot 
fail to captivate a man who would mistake words for argu- 
ments. It has been positively proved that the use of stoves 
has lessened the quantity of fuel previously consumed in 
open fire places without diminishing heat and comfort; but it 
is not contended that stoves could be so constructed as to 
produce heat and comfort without consuming any fuel, but 
causing it (o accumulate. What would be said in reply to 
to the arguments of a man who would assert that the intro- 
duction of stoves had not been a saving of fuel, and who 
would found his arguments on the self-evident fact that stoves 
will not produce heat and comfort without any fuel? What- 
ever reply would be applicable to such arguments, will apply 
with equal force to all the arguments against a protective 
tariff. Whilst it has been positively proved that protective 
duties have caused some articles to fall in prices, (which is 
admitted by Mr. M., who is not satisfied with facts,) it is not 
contended by any rational man, that a tariff can be so adjust- 
ed as to enable any class of our mechanics to furnish their 
manufactured articles for nothing, and pay a premium for 
taking them off their hands. Mr. Mason's merriment is 
founded in his paradoxical ingenuity; his premises have no 
more existence, except in imagination, than a poet's Muse 
or Sancho in the novel of the renowned Cervantes. 

The writer will not repeat the arguments previously used 
in support of protection, but will suppose two systems in 
farming. Farmers A. and B., being neighbours, own farms of 
equal fertility, and each, for a number of years, seeded his 
ground at the rate of one bushel of wheat to the acre, and 
reaped an average of twenty fold. It occurred to each that 
he could increase the quantity per acre by increasing the 
quantity of seed. Farmer A. reasoned thus: If one bushel 
of seed will produce twenty bushels to the acre, five bush- 
F2 



84 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

eb will produce one hundred. Here he committed an error 
in the principle of proportion. If one bushel to the acre 
was too little, it did not follow that five were not too much. 
He tried the experiment, and, to use a com men phrase, it 
was too thick to thrive; and instead of reaping one hundred 
bushels to the acre, he did not reap five, and they, too, of in- 
ferior quality. Ue then reasoned thus: I have lost a crop, 
but 1 have discovered the "philosopher's stone; 15 instead of 
sowing five times more to the acre 1 should have sown five 
times less. The ensuing year, he sowed a peck to the acre, 
and it was then too thin to support itself and properly occu- 
py the ground, and ik lares sprang up and choked it," and 
the last error of that man was worse than the first. He not 
only lost two crops, but the tares and other vicious intruder* 
so poisoned his land that it required years of toil to bring it 
into a healthy and productive state. Farmer B. studied the 
principle of proportion. He had not a doubt that the 
product per acre could be increased by increasing the pro- 
portion of seed, but the difficulty was how far he could in- 
crease the seed per acre without destroying an equilibrium. 
Ue at length decided upon five pecks to the acre, and he 
reaped twenty-five bushels to liie acre, being an increase 
upon arithmetical principles. He gained, not only by in- 
creasing the quantity of grain, but he increased the quantity 
of straw in the s£.me proportion, and thereby increased the 
quantity of food for his cattle, and they, in return, furnished 
an larger portion of manure, which he spread upon his 
land and increased its fertility. Disclaiming anything of- 
fensive, might not farmer A. be compared to a democrat 
opposing a protective tariff under any circumstances whatev- 
er; and B. to a whig supporting a tariff suited to surround- 
ing circumstances, so balanced and proportioned as to pro- 
duce an equilibrium? The writer could continue this sim- 
ple process of reasoning; but having advanced principles 
which he thinks cannot be refuted, he submits to the can- 
dour of the reader to draw conclusions. He would quote 
Mr. Mason's speech at full length, if he believed that just- 
ice to him required it. The lengthy quotation made ap- 
pears to him to be a correct recapitulation of all Mr. Mason's 
arguments against protection, and the substance of all the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 65 

arguments he ever read or heard upon that side of tbe ques- 
tion. He submits to the candid reader whether the subject 
ought not to be examined without regard to party politics. 
All the arguments in opposition to a protective, not an op- 
pressive tariff may be compared to a sleeveless garment 
without a body! Suppose the people of this county who 
employ mechanics were to purchase shoes, boots and hats 
from those residing in a neighbouring county, would not 
such a course be illiberal and ungenerous towards the me- 
chanics of this county? Is not the preference given to for- 
eign mechanics a serious injury not only to our own but to 
alj classes of society? The questions are worthy of most 
serious and impartial consideration. 



CHAPTER V. 
On Protective Duties and National Economy, 

JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

The Hon. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, deliver- 
ed a speech, in the Senate on the 5th of August, in which 
he, like Mr. Mason, took a one-sided view of the subject. 
He is as versatile in his political sentiments and judgment 
as he is fruitful in imagination; and as he has been for and 
against almost every important measure of the government, 
for the last thirty years, he would seldom be quoted for au- 
thority were it not for his great weight of moral character. 
It is to be regretted that Air. Calhoun has never compared 
bis conflicting sentiments upon important subjects, and 
tried to prove that he had shaped his policy in accordance 
with that of foreign nations and surrounding circumstances, 
or have candidly acknowledged that his mind had under- 
gone a change. But no instance, it is believed, can be 
produced in which Mr. Calhonn acknowledged that his 
ientiments had undergone a change, or gave any explana- 
tion. 

In 1816, Mr, Calhoun was a high tariff man. The same 



m POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

year he was the champion of a national bank, and has sub- 
sequently exuhingly spoke of his exertions in establishing 
the. United States bank. Same year, on his motion, a res- 
olution was amended so as to receive bank notes in pay- 
ment of public dues. 

1838 — He declared it to be unconstitutional to receive 
bank notes in payment of public dues. 

1837 — Believes a national bank dangerous and uncon- 
stitutional. 

1816— Advocates the internal improvement system. 

1828 — Is opposed to the same. 

1832 — Declares the tariff unconstitutional, and resorts 
to nullification. 

1828 — Is elected vice-president on the Jackson ticket. 

1831 5 2 — Gave the casting vote, as vice-president, to re- 
call Mr. Van Buren from England, and nullify his nomina- 
tion, by President Jackson, as minister. 

1834 — Is a violent enemy to Gen. Jackson and Mr. Van 
Buren, and acts with the whigs against them. 

1837 — Is violently opposed to the sub-treasury — recom- 
mended by Van Buren at the extra session of that year — 
and to a repeal of the distribution act. 

At the ensuing annual session of Congress, supports the 
sub-treasury and advocates a repeal of the distribution act 
previously recommended by president Jackson. 

1838 — Advocates the administration of Mr. Van Buren 
and continues his support throughout that administration. 

1841 — Votes for a bill, previously introduced by himself, 
to cede the whole of thepublic lands to the states in which 
they are located, 

1842 — Votes against a bill to distribute the proceeds of 
the lands among all of the states. [Upon Mr. Calhoun's 
principle, it is morally wrong to transfer the public lands 
to all the states, but right and proper to transfer them to & 
part of the states] 

The foregoing is a summary of the prominent tergiver- 
sations of Mr. Calhoun, who is as changeable as the wind 
and unstable as water, duch, however, is his weight of 
moral character, that he is termed the "honest nullifier," 
and his sincerity is not called into question. As we are now 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 87 

discussing the protective system, and as the eloquence and 
talents of Mr. Calhoun have been employed for and against 
the policy, it is worthy of consideration which side of the 
question is orthodox; one or the other is heterodox. Upon 
abstract principles, Mr. Calhoun's testimony for and against 
protection is entitled to equal credit. After denouncing 
the tariff of 1828 as the bill of abominations, and the one 
under consideration as u more onerous," and indulging in 
flippant denunciations, he bases himself upon the following 
premises: 

"On all articles on which duties can be imposed, there 
is a point in the rate of duties which may be called the 
maximum point of revenue — that is, a point at which the 
greatest amount of revenue would be raised. If it be ele- 
vated above that, the importation of the article would fall 
off more rapidly than the duty would be raised; and if de- 
pressed below it, the reverse effect would follow: that is, 
the duty would decrease more rapidly than the importation 
would increase." 

The foregoing premises are admitted, in their general 
application, though fhey may not be strictly correct upon 
arithmetical principles. It is now worthy of consideration 
whether it is not practicable to arrive at a maximum point 
of duties upon some articles, if not all, which would throw 
the payment upon the producer instead of the consumer, 
as is argued by the opponents of protection. The framers 
of the constitution did not consider import and export 
duties as equivalents. In the 1st Article, Sec. 9, is a clause 
in the following words: "No tax or duty shall be laid on ar- 
ticles exported from any state." No individual will suffer 
his surplus productions of any kind to perish on his hands, 
if he can sell them for more than the cost of sending them 
to market; and the price must, invariably, be governed by 
quantity, demand and the ability to pay for them. A duty 
may readily be laid on any article so high as to amount to 
prohibition, or to impose the payment of a part, but not 
all, of the duty upon the consumer. Upon the same prin- 
ciple, a duty may be laid so judiciously as to impose the 
payment on the producers. Those who cross ferries pay 
Use tolJ^ for which they receive no equivalent except that 



» POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

of being transferred to the opposite shore at a desired point 
The ferriage might be so high as to force travellers to avoid 
them, seek other crossings or stay on their own side of the 
water. There is a maximum point which ought to be based 
upon reciprocal interest, having due regard to the general 
good and public welfare. The whole people of our con-^ 
federacy should be considered as a national family, and 
their various wants and interests properly provided for. 
We have no right to controul the internal civil policy of 
foreign nations; neither are we morally bound to promote 
their interest to the injury of our own. Mr. Calhoun next 
asserts: 

kt But there never yet has been devised a scheme of emp- 
tying the pockets of one portion of the community into 
those of the other, however unjust or oppressive, for which 
plausible reasons could not be found; and. few have been 
so prolific of such as that under consideration. Among 
them, one of the most plausible is that the competition, 
which is asked to be excluded, is that of foreigners. The 
competition is represented to be between home and foreign 
industry: and he who opposes what is asked, is held up 
as a friend to foreign, and the enemy to home industry, 
and is regarded as very little short of being a traitor to 
his country. I take issue on the fact. I deny that there 
is, or can be, any competition between home and foreign 
industry, but through the latter; and assert that the real 
competition, in all cases is, and must be, between one 
branch of home industry and another* To make good the 
position taken, 1 rely on a simple fact, which none will 
deny; — that imports are received in exchange for exports* 
From that, it follows, if there be no export trade, there 
will be no import trade; and that to cut off the exports, is 
to cut off the imports. It is, then, not the imports, but the 
exports which are exchanged for them, and without which. 
they would not be introduced at all, that causes, in reality* 
the competition. It matters not how low the wages of 
other countries may be, and how cheap their productions,. 
if we have no exports, they cannot compete with ours." 

It is to be regretted that expletives, denunciations, ridi- 
cule, sarcajsins, bold assertions and unqualified accusation^ 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. to 

are, with many persons, considered potent arguments; and 
the Bible has been denounced a jest book. But the latter 
portion of the quotation is argumentative, and imports and 
exports considered upon the principle of barter, without 
even an effort to prove that low duties on our side would 
be equivalent to high duties on the other side of the water> 
and place the rule of baiter on principles of reciprocity; 
this would have been an uphill business for Mr. Calhoun, 
and he avoided it. No complaint is made by him to the 
high duties which our exports are subjected to in foreign 
ports. The cotton of the south, after passing through the 
gin, is ready for the manufaciurer; so are wheat and other 
grain after they pa?s through threshing and shelling machines 
and fans, prepared for the miller. The population of the 
United States is, in round numbers, seventeen millions; and 
about that number of barrels of flour, or an equivalent of 
bread stuff, would be sufficient for the annual consumption. 
The tariff which we pay on our exports to foreign nations, 
considered upon the principle of barter, as it is placed by 
Mr. Calhoun, reduces our exports, upon an average, at least 
one-half. Now the question is, ought we to meet this, 
curtail by a corresponding rate of duty? Mr. Calhoun's 
arguments are in the negative, upon the principle, that for- 
eign nations will only barter with us upon the principle 
of high duties on their part and low duties on ours. If 
this unequal barter is advantageous to us, we ought to ship 
to foreign nations grain, equivalent to forty millions of 
barrels of flour and barter it for bread stuff equivalent to 
half that amount. So long as the United States can pro- 
duce grain to the extent of double the quantity consumed, 
the unequal barter could be kept up. What we say upon 
the article of grain, bartered for flour and bread stuff, will 
apply to all articles which we export. Tfte United States 
are prolific in productions; but it does not follow that the 
vast surplus should be exchanged on the unequal princi- 
ple of barter contended for by the cotton planters, to the 
injury and injustice of all other classes of citizens. Mr. 
Calhcun closes his theory upon the rule of barter in an- 
ticipated triumph, 
^The great popular party is already rallied almost enmast* 



90 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

around the banner which is leading the party to its final 
triumph. The few that still lag, will soon be rallied under 
its ample folds. On that banner is inscribed: Free trade; 
low duties; separation from banks; economy; re- 
trenchment, AND STRICT ADHERENCE TO THE CONSTI- 
TUTION. Victory in such a cause will be great and glori- 
ous; and, if its principles be faithfully and firmly adhered 
to, after it is achieved, much will it redound to the honor 
of those by whom it will have been won; and long will it 
perpetuate the liberty and prosperity of the country.'* 

As well might the negroes, whilst writhing under the 
lash of their "task masters," be tola that they are free- 
men, as for the honest nullifier to tell the people that low 
duties, on our part, will produce free trade, no debt 
and be equivalent to high duties en the part of foreign 
nations, and that it would be to our advantage to give two 
coon skins for one to keep up the trade of barter with for- 
eign powers. The truth is that the honest nullifier is one 
of the greatest advocates for a protective tariff in the 
Union. But his protective principles are selfish and section- 
al — confined to the cotton growing states. Disclaiming 
anything invidious or disrespectful, but to speak figuratively, 
Mr. Calhoun's head is lined with cotton and other soft 
substances whi^h he cannot weave into a fabric, and he 
concludes, that if cotton goods are not admitted at low du- 
ties, the people of the south must do without clothing. In 
South Carolina there are (as the writer understands and 
believes,) but two general classes of society, with the ex- 
ception of an intermediate or connecting class. The work- 
ing class consists of mules and negroes which perform the 
labour; the negroes require but lime clothing, and like 
their fellow labourers, the mules, subsist on low and coarse 
food. The high order of society constitute the land hold- 
ers, who are intelligent and selfish; advocating the pro- 
tection of raw cotton, upon the principle of admitting im- 
ported cotton fabrics at low duties. The connecting class 
consists of overseers, who have sufficient intelligence to 
manage the mules and negroes. 

The emperor of Russia is as much opposed to banking 
institutions as is Mr. Calhoun; who, when in the Republi- 



POILTICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 91 

can track, was the father of the U. S. bank, and made a 
merit in declaring that he done more than any other man 
in the nation to bring it into existence. It was approved 
by president Madison, one of the purest republicans and 
enlightened statesmen that the United States ever produced. 
His political talents and philanthropy, like the rays of the 
sun in May, were mild and vivific; but Mr. Calhoun, hav- 
ing descended to perigee, his principles are as biting and 
withering as a north-wester in January, The hard-money 
philanthropists term the working class the 'bone and sinew, 5 
and in all hard-money countries the bone and sinew are 
stript of their flesh; i. e. they are reduced to ignorance, 
venality, and degrading servility — more wretched than the 
negroes on the cotton plantations. Genuine democracy 
is invigorating; spurious democracy is withering. 



CHAPTER VI. 

On Protective Duties and National Economy. 
HENRY CLAY. 
Having given the sentiments of president Jackson, Mr, 
Mason and Mr. Calhoun, in opposition to fostering home- 
industry, and in support of foreign labour and the policy 
of European nations to keep us in a state of dependence 
and poverty, it is the duty of the writer, as an impartial co- 
pyist, (but exclusively American in principles), to lay be- 
fore the reader some arguments in support of the invigora- 
ting policy of the American System. He copies from a 
speech delivered by the Hon. Henry Clay in the Senate in 
February, 1832, in reply to Hon. R. Y. Hayne, a cotton 
planter from S. Carolina. Mr. Clay's remarks are not cloth- 
ed in metaphysical speculations; they are plain and easy 
to comprehend and are impressed with a brilliant genius, 
which as naturally flows from Mr. Clay as rays of light 
from the sun. The reader will discover also that Mr. 
Clay states the policy pursued against this country by Great 



n POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Britain, when we were under the colonial government, 
which policy that proud nation still attempts to enforce 
against us, which she could not effect, but for the advocates 
of her policy in this country. 

After his introduction, and some remarks of a general 
character, Mr. Clay said — 

"Eight years ago it was my painful duty to present to 
the other house of Congress, an unexaiigerated picture of 
Ihe general distress pervading the whole land. We all 
know that the people were then oppressed and borne down 
by an enormous load of debts; that the value of property 
was at the lowest point of depression; that ruinous sales 
and sacrifices were every where made of real estate; that 
stop laws and relief laws and paper money were adopted 
to save the people from depending destruction; that a defi- 
cit in the public revenue existed, which compelled govern- 
ment to seize upon, and divert from its legitimate object, 
the appropriation to the sinking fund, to redeem the na- 
tional debt; and that our commerce and navigation were 
threatened with a complete paralysis, (n short, sir, if I 
were to select any term of seven years since the adoption 
of the present constitution, which exhibited a scene of the 
most wide-spread dismay and desolation, it would be ex- 
actly that term of seven years which immediately preceded 
the establishment of the tariff of 1824.'' 

"I have now to perform the pleasing task of exhibiting 
an imperfect sketch of the existing state of the unparalleled 
prosperity of the country. On a general survey we behold 
cultivation extended, the arts flourishing, the face of the 
country impioved, our people fully and profitably employed, 
and the public countenance exhibiting tranquility, content- 
ment and happiness* And, if we transcend into particu- 
lars, we have the agreeable contemplation of a people out 
of debt; land rising slowly in value, but in a secure and 
salutary degree; a ready, though not an extravagant, market 
for all the surplus productions of our industry; innumera- 
ble flocks and herds browsing and gambolling on ten thou- 
sand hills and plains covered with rich and verdant grasses; 
our cities expanded, and whole villages springing up, as it 
were, by enchantment} our exports and imports increasing; 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. M 

t>iir tonnage, foreign and coast-wise, swelling and fully oc- 
cupied; the rivers of our interior animated by the perpet- 
ual thunder and lightning of countless steam-boats; the 
currency sound and abundant; the public debt of two wars 
nearly redeemed; and, to crown all, the public treasury 
overflowing, embarrassing Congress, not to find subjects of 
taxation, but to select the objects which shall be liberated 
from the impost. If the term of seven years were to be 
selected, of the greatest prosperity which this people has 
enjoyed since the establishment of their present constitu- 
tion, it would be exactly that period of seven years which 
immediately followed the passage of the tariff of 1824." 

{i This transformation of the condition of the country 
from gloom and distress to brightness and prosperity, has 
been mainly the work of American legislation; fostering 
American industry, instead of allowing it to be controlled 
by foreign legislation, cherishing foreign industry. The 
foes of the American System, in 1824, with the great bold- 
ness and confidence, predicted, 1st— The ruin of the pub- 
lic revenue and the creation of a necessity to resort to di- 
rect taxation. 2nd — The destruction of our navigation,— 
3rd — The desolation of commercial cities. And 4th — The 
augmentation of the price of objects of consumption and 
further decline in that of articles of our exports. Every 
prediction which they made has failed — utterly failed. — 
Instead of the ruin of the public revenue, with which they 
then sought to deter us from the adoption of the American 
System, we are now threatened with its subversion, by the 
vast amount of public revenue produced by that system. — ■ 
Every branch of our navigation has increased. As to the 
desolation of our cities, let us take, as an example, the con- 
dition of the largest and most commercial of all of them, 
the great northern capital. I have in my hands the assess- 
ed value of real estate in New York, from 1817 to 1831. 
This value is canvassed, contested, scrutinized and adjud- 
ged by the proper sworn authorities. It is, therefore, en- 
titled to full credence. During the first term commencing 
with 1817, and ending in the year of the tariff of 1824, thfc 
amount of the value of real estate was, the first year, fi'ty- 
sevea millions, seven hundred and ninety-nine thousand, 



U POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

four hundred and thirty-five dollars, and, after various flue* 
tuations in the intermediate period, it settled down at fifty* 
two millions, nineteen thousand seven hundred and thirty 
dollars, exhibiting a decrease, in seven years, of five mil- 
lions, seven hundred and seventy-nine thousand, seven hun- 
dred and five dollars. During the first year (1825,) af- 
ter the passage of the tariff, it rose and gradually ascend- 
ing throughout the whole of the latter period of seven 
years, it finally, in 1831, reached the astonishing height 
of ninety-five millions, seven hundred and sixteen thou- 
sand, four hundred and eighty-five dollars. Now, if it be 
said that this rapid growth of the city of New York was 
the effect of foreign commerce^ then, it was not correctly 
predicted, in 1824, that the tariff would destroy foreign 
commerce and desolate our commercial cities. Jf, on the 
contrary, it be the effect of internal trade, then internal 
trade cannot be justly chargeable with the evil consequences 
imputed to it. The truth is, it is the joint effect of both 
principles; the domestic industry nourishing the foreign 
trade, and the foreign commerce, in turn, nourishing the 
domestic indust/y. Nowhere, more than in New York, 
is the combination of both principles so completely devel- 
oped. In the progress of my arguments, 1 will consider 
the effect upon the price of commodities, produced by the 
American System, and show that the very reverse of the 
prediction of its foes, in 1824, has actually happened." 

Appended to Mr. Clay's speech is an appendix, showing 
the tonnage of the United States for each year from 1815 
to 1829, inclusive. Also, the value of real estate in New 
York, for each year from 1817 to 1831, inclusive. The 
increase of tonnage from 1815 to 1829 was four hundred 
and fifty thousand, three hundred and sixty-three tons. It 
is worthy of remark, also, that the tonnage, at the close of 
the year 1823, was forty-one thousand, five hundred and 
sixty-two tons less than at the close of the year 18J5; and 
consequently that the tonnage, shipping and commerce 
were decreasing from 1817 up to the tariff of 1824. The 
actual increase of the tonnage from 1824 to 1829, both in- 
clusive, is four hundred and ninety-one thousand, nine hun- 
dred and twenty-five tons; equal to the tonnage of four 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. U 

hundred ships of the line, or eight hundred merchant ships 
of the first class; and actually inweasing the number of 
merchant vessels to the burthen and capacity of eight hun- 
dred first-rate merchant ships; giving employment to me- 
chanics in building and repairing them, and regular em- 
ployment to six or eight thousand seamen in navigating 
them. It appears, then, from official documents, that, in 
the absence of a protecting tariff, our ships decrease in 
number and burthen; our commerce is less productive; the 
energy of man is paralysed and he is disheartened. Such 
is the connection between our commercial, manufacturing 
and agricultural transactions, that, to speak figuratively, 
they are partners; the interest of one is the interest of all. 
They may be compared to joint-partners, owning all the 
property and money of the nation and trading on it. What- 
ever policy injures one partner, injures all; and, vice versa 3 
the policy which benefits one, benefits all. The most un- 
compromising opponents of protection admit that it lowers 
the price of some articles, but contend that it raises the 
price of others. JXot a single fact has been presented in 
support of the latter, and all their arguments have been 
founded upon imaginary premises which have no founda- 
tion or connection with fact. Any man can argue as well 
from false as from true premises Suppose it be assumed 
that a man has committed a murder; if innocent, his inno- 
cence couid not avail him anything; if the charge is to be 
assumed as a fact, his innocence could have no influence 
with the court or jury. 

The reader will bear in mind that a tariff, to be protective*, 
must be discriminating; without which it is impossible to 
produce and preserve an equilibrium upon beneficial prin- 
ciples. It is intended to be applied to such articles. only 5 
as are in their original or raw state — -of the vegetable or 
mineral productions of the United States. 

We will take the foregoing as our text, though it would 
have been more appropriate at the commencement of the 
discourse. A tariff upon tea and coffee could only be ap- 
plicable to revenue for the support of government, not pro- 
tection. No man, in his senses, will say that a tariff upon 
tea and coffee would reduce the price to the consumer, but 



n POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

it is asserted, upon proof as self-evident to any inquiring, 
intelligent, unprejudiced man as is his own existence, that 
it does reduce the price of various articles which, in their 
raw and unpolished state, are of the vegetable and mineral 
productions of our country. 

The appendix gives the assessed value of real property 
in New York each year, from 1817 to 1831, inclusive. — 
There was, it is believed, no expansion or contraction of 
the limits of the city during the period of fourteen years. 
The depreciation during the seven years which preceded 
the tariff of 1824, and the increasa during the seven years 
which followed, are as astonishing as they are interesting, 
and are among the many arguments in favour of the pro- 
tective system which cannot be refuted. That the pro- 
tective system would produce great and genera! benefits, 
«an be as clearly demonstrated, to the satisfaction of an in- 
telligent and unbiased mind, as that two and three make 
five. But, alas! it is a whig measure. 

The Globe gives a report of a debate in the Senate of the 
United States in which there was some sharp shooting by 
both parties, particularly from their heavy artillery; but lit- 
tle use was made cf muskets, in which Mr. Bagby, a dem- 
ocratic senator, is reported to have said: "For his own part, 
if the devil, himself, were to recommend to this Congress 
a measure which he (Mr. B.) thought to be right, he would 
not be so far blinded as to refuse to do what his judgment 
and his conscience dictated.'' The sentiment advanced 
by Mr. Bagby contains a sound principle, to support or op- 
pose measures from the dictates of conscience, and with 
reference to the general good, without regard to party. If 
opposing politicians would discuss subjects with a view of 
discriminating between proper and improper measures, 
party politicians would be a blessing. But, unfortunately 
for us, the inquiry frequently arises, "Is lie a democrat or 
a whig?" "Is it a whig or a democratic measure?'' Upon 
all subjects, unconnected with politics, the people of the 
United States, are earnestly in search of truth, and using 
laudable means in the pursuit of happiness. "Measures 
and not rnen," is a wholesome political maxim; but party, 
toot measures, is an unwholesome principle, productive of, 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

^nd producing much evil. We continue the quotation: — 

"ft corriprehends our coasting trade, from which all for- 
eign tonnage is absolutely excluded. 

"It includes all our foreign tonnage, with the inconsid- 
erable exception made by treaties of reciprocity with a few 
foreign powers. 

It embraces our fisheries, and all our hardy and enter- 
prising fishermen. 

"It extends to almost every mechanic art : to tanners, 
cord-wainers, tailors, cabinet-makers, tallow-chandlers, 
trace-makers, rope-makers, cork-cutters, tobacconists, whip- 
makers, umbrella-makers, glass-blowers, stocking-weavers, 
button-makers, saddle and harness-makers, cutlers, brush- 
makers, book-binders, dairy-men, milk-farmers, black- 
smiths, type-founders, musical instrument-makers, basket- 
makers, milliners, potters, chocolate-makers, fioor-cloth- 
tnakers, bonnet-makers, hair-cloth-makers, copper-smiths, 
pencil-makers, bellows-makers, pocket-book-makers, card- 
rnakers, glue-makers, mustard-makers, lumber-sawyers, 
saw-makers, scale-beam-makers, scythe-makers, wood-saw- 
makers, and many others. The mechanics enumerated 
enjoy a measure of protection adapted to their several con- 
ditions, varying from twenty to fifty percent. The extent 
and importance of some of these artizans may be estimated 
by a few particulars. The tanners, curriers, boot and shoe- 
makers, and other workers in hides, skins and leather, pro- 
duce an ultimate value per annum of forty millions of dol- 
lars; the manufacturers of hats and caps produce an annual 
value of fifteen millions; the cabinet-makers, twelve mil- 
lions; the manufacturers of bonnets and hats for the female 
sex, lace, artificial flowers, combs, &c. seven millions; and 
the manufactuiers of glass, five millions. 

It affects the cotton p'anier himself, and the tobacco 
planter, both of whom enjoy protection. To say nothing 
of the cotton produced in other foreign countries, the cul- 
tivation of this article, of a very superior quality, is con- 
stantly extending in the adjacent Mexican provinces, and, 
but for the duty, probably a large amount would be intro- 
duced into the United States, down Red river and along 
■the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. 
G 



98 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

'•The total amount of capital vested in sheep, the land 
to sustain them, wool, wollen manufacturers and wollen 
fabrics, and the subsistence of the various persons directly 
employed in the growth and manufacture of the article of 
wool, is estimated at one hundred and sixty-seven millions 
of dollars, and the number of persons at one hundred and 
fifty thousand." We annex the following table from the 
appendix: — 

"This is the summary report and estimates of the com- 
mittee of the New York convention, on the manufactures 
of wool, published in the addendum to the last volume of 
the Reporter, and it is unnecessary (for us) to do more 
than give its results. 
i( It is estimated that there are 20 millions of 

sheep in the U. S , worth $2 each, $40,000,000 

4, That it requires six million, six hundred and 
sixty-six thousand; six hundred and sixty- 
six acre3 of land (at 3 sheep to the acre) 
to feed them, at §,10 an acre, 65,000,000 



$105,000,000 
;/ rhat these sheep produce 50 mil- 
lions pounds of wool, worth 
40 cents per pound, §20,000.000 

(That the crop of 1S31 was 
worth 25 million) 
That the value of the cloth made 
from this wool is 40,000,000 - 

That the fixed and Boating cap- 
ital vested in the wollen manu- 
facture is 40,000,000 

Capital in the growth and manufacture of 

wool $145,000,000 

That fifty thousand persons are employed, and one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand subsisted, by the manufactures of 
wool; and these consumes three millions, seven hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars worth, annually, of agricultural 
productions. That to supply these with food, Sec, requires 
one million, five hundred thousand acres of land, worth 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 93 

$15 the acre, amounting to $22, 500,000., Total capital 
involved, one hundred and sixty-seven millions, five hun- 
dred thousand dollars. 5 ' 

The agriculturists and the manufacturer may examine 
the foregoing table with the most pleasing sensations. The 
links which connect them in interest cannot be separated 
without injuring both. They may figuratively be compa- 
red to twin-brothers — the former being as nearly connec- 
ted in interest as are the latter in blood. Besides, this pol- 
icy, inculcates industry, produces sound morals and sub- 
stantial comfort. Idleness, whether from necessity or 
choice, is the parent of evil. Admitting the truth of the 
proposition, that there is no general rule without exceptions, 
an idler is vicious, in degrees regulated or controlled by 
circumstances. An idler from necessity is deserving of 
commiseration; but, like the idier from choice, must be 
unproductive, and the longer he continues unemployed, 
whether from necessity or for the want of industry, the 
more impure will become his morals. Idleness and vice 
are so closely connected that they live and die together: 
they are almost synonymous terms. It would be difficult 
to find a man, who deserves the character of an idler, who 
is not vicious. The term idler does not apply to the in- 
firm or insane; neither does it apply to the wealthy portion 
of the community, many of whom do not work at the an- 
vil or the bench, or guide the plough. The wealthy men 
in the United States cannot, with justice, be termed idlers. 
If (hey are professional men they labour with their minds; 
if merchants or land-holders, they labour in both body and 
mind; if retired, and living on their incomes, they devote 
a portion of their time in reading and acquiring knowledge, 
and I ing it, add to the moral and physical strength 

and energy of the nation. 

;, The value of iron, 5 ' said Mr. C, ^considered as a raw 
material, and ot its manufactures, is estimated at twenty- 
six millions of dollars per annum. Cotton goods, exclu- 
sive of the capital vesteii mufacture, and of the cost 
of the raw material, are believed to amount, annually, to 
about twenty millions of dollars. 

» 4 These estimates have been carefully made, by practical 
G2 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

men, of undoubted character, who have brought together 
and embodied their information. Anxious to avoid exag- 
geration, they have sometimes placed their estimates below 
what was believed to be the actual amount of these inter. 
esls. With regard to the quantity of bar and other iron, 
annually produced, it is derived from the known works 
themselves; and I know some in the western states which 
they have omitted in their calculations. 

;; Such are some of the items of this Vast system of pro- 
tection, which it is now proposed to abandon. We might 
well pause and contemplate, if human imagination could 
conceive the extent of mischief and ruin from its total o- 
verthrow, before we proceed to the work of destruction. 
Its duration is worthy, also, of serious consideration. Not 
to go behind the constitution, its date is coeval with that 
instrument. It began on the memorable 4th July — the 4th 
day of July, 1789. The second act which stands recorded 
in the statute book, bearing the illustrious signature of 
George Washington, laid the corner stone of the whole. — 
That there might be no mistake about the whole matter, it 
was then solemnly proclaimed to the American people and 
to the world, that it was necessary for "the encouragement 
and protection of manufactures,'' that duties should be laid. 
It is m vain to urge the small amount of the measure of 
protection then extended. The great principle was then 
established by the fathers of the Constitution, with the 
father of his country at their head. And it cannot now 
be questioned, that, if the government had not then been 
new and the subject untried, a greater measure of protec- 
tion would have been applied, if it had been supposed nec- 
essary. Shortly after, the master minds of Jefferson and 
Hamilton were brought to act upon this interesting subject. 
Taking views of it appertaining to the departments of for- 
eign affairs and of the treasury, which they respectfully 
filled, they presented, severally, reports which yet remain 
monuments of their profound wisdom, and came to the 
same conclusion of protection to American industry. Mr. 
Jefferson argued that foreign restriction?, foreign prohibi- 
tions? and foreign high duties ought to be met, at home, by 
American restrictions, American prohibitions and Ameri* 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 101 

can high duties, Mr. Hamilton, surveying the whole ground 
and looking at the inherent nature of the subject, treated 
it with an ability which, if ever equalled, has not been 
surpassed, and earnestly recommended protection. 

"The wars of the French revolution commenced about 
this period, and streams of gold poured into the United 
States through a thousand channels, opened or enlarged 
by the successful commerce which our neutrality enabled 
us to prosecute. We forgot or overlooked, in the general 
prosperity, the necessity of encouraging our domestic man- 
ufactories. Then came the edicts of Napoleon, and the 
British orders in council; and our embargo, non-intercourse, 
non-importation, and war followed in rapid succession. — 
These national measures, amounting to a total suspension, 
for the period of their duration, of our foreign commerce, 
afforded the most efficacious encouragement to American 
manufactures; and, accordingly, they every where sprung 
up. Whilst these measures of restriction and this state of 
war continued, the manufactures were stimulated in their 
enterprises by easy assurance of support, by public senti* 
ment, and by legislative resolves. It was about that period, 
(1808,) that S. Carolina bore her high testimony to the 
wisdom of the policy, in an act of her legislature, the pre- 
amble of which is now before me, reads, fc Whereas the es- 
tablishment and encouragement of domestic manufactures 
is conducive to the interest of a state, by adding new in- 
centives to industry, and as being the means of disposing, 
to advantage, the surplus productions of the agriculturists. 
And whereas, in the present unexampled state of the world, 
their establishment in our country is not only expedient, 
but politic, in rendering us independent of foreign nations.' 
The legislature, not being competent to afford the most ef- 
ficacious aid, by imposing duties on foreign articles, pro- 
ceeded to incorporate a company. 

"Peace under the treaty of Ghent, returned in 18 15, but 
there did not return with it the golden days which preceed- 
ed the edicts leveled at our commerce by Great Britain 
and France. It found all Europe tranquilly resuming all 
the arts and business of civil life. It found Europe no 
longer the, consumer of our surplus, and the employer of 



102 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

our navigation, but excluding, or heavily burdening, almost 
all the productions of our agriculture, and our rivals in 
manufactures, in navigation and commerce. It found our 
country, in short, in a situation totally different from all 
the past — new and untried. It became necessary to adopt 
our laws, and, especially our laws of imports, to the new 
circumstances in which we found ourselves. Accordingly, 
that eminent and lamented citizen, then at the head of the 
treasury, (Mr. Dallas,) was required by a resolution of the 
house of representatives, under date, February 23d, 1815, 
to prepare and report to the succeeding session of Congress 
a system of revenue conformable with the actual condi- 
tion of the country. * * * He says, in 
his report: — *There are few, if any, governments, which 
do not regard the establishment of domestic manufactures 
as a chief object of public policy. The United States have 
always so regarded it,' * * * * 

"The subject of the American system was again brought 
up in 1820 by the bill reported by the chairman of the 
committee of manufactures, now a member of the bench 
of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the prin- 
ciple was successfully maintained by the representatives of 
the people; but the bill which they passed was defeated 
in the Senate, ft was revived in 1824, the whole ground 
carefully and deliberately explored, and the bill, then in- 
troduced, receiving all the sanctions of the Constitution, 
became the law of the land. An amendment of the sys- 
tem was proposed in 1828, to the history of which, I refer 
with no agreeable recollections. The bill of that year, in 
some of its provisions, was framed upon principles directly 
adverse to the declared wishes of the friends of protection. 
* * The bill was passed, notwithstanding 

it having been thought better to take the bad along with 
the good it contained, than reject it altogether. Subse- 
quent legislation has corrected the error then perpetrated, 
but still that measure is vehemently denounced by gentle- 
men who contributed to make it what it was. 

"Thus, sir, has the great system of protection been grad- 
ually built, stone upon stone, and step by step, from the 
4th day of July 1739, down to the present period. Ira 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 103 

every stage of its progress it has received the deliberate 
sanction of Congress. A vast majority of the people of 
the United States have approved, and continues to approve 
it. Every chief magistrate of the U. States, from Wash- 
ington to the present, in some form or other, has given to 
it the authority of his name; and, however the opinions 
of the existing president are interpreted south of Mason's 
and Dixon's line, on the north they are, at least, under- 
stood to favour the establishment of a judicious tariff.'' 

The reader will bear in mind that president Jackson, in 
his second annual message of December 1830, was an ad- 
vocate of a protective tariff; and there cannot be found in 
any of his subsequent messages, any evidence of his hav- 
ing changed his sentiments, until we arrive at his eighth 
and iast annual communication: his reasons having been 
given in preceeding pages need not be repeated. 

**Nor has the system, (said Mr. Clay,) which has been 
the parent source of so much benefit to other parts of the 
Union, proved injurious to the cotton growing country. [ 
cannot speak of South Carolina itself, where I have never 
been, with so much certainty; but of other portions of the 
Union in which cotton is grown, especially those border- 
ing on the Mississippi, I can confidently speak. If cotton 
planting is less profitable than it was, that is the result of 
increased productions; but I believe it to be still the most 
profitable investment of capital of any branch of business 
in the United States. And if a committee were raised to 
send for persons and papers, I take upon myself to say. 
that such would be the result of the inquiry. In Kentucky 
I know many individuals who have their cotton plantations 
below, and retain their residence in that state, where they 
remain during the sickly season; and they are all, I believe, 
without exception, doing well. Others tempted by their 
success, are consequently engaged in the business, whilst 
scarcely any comes from the cotton region to engage in 
western agriculture. A friend now in my eye, a member 
of this body, upon a capital of less than seventy thousand 
dollars, invested in a plantation and slaves, made, the year 
before last, sixteen thousand dollars. A member of the 
other house 5 I understand, who, without removing himself 



104 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

sent some of his slaves to Mississippi, made, last yeary. 
about twenty per cent. Two friends of mine, in the latter 
state, whose annual income is from thirty to sixty thousand" 
dollars, being anxious to curtail their business, have offer- 
ed to sell their estates, which they are willing to show, by 
regular vouchers of receipt and disbursement, yield eigh- 
teen per cent, per annum. One of my most opulent ac- 
quaintances, in a county adjoining to that in which I reside, 
having married in Georgia, has derived a large portion of 
his wealth from a cotton estate there situated. 7 ' 

During the year 1832 the people of South Carolina 
were almost in a state of rebellion. A state convention 
assembled and declared the tariff acts of May, 1828, and 
July, 1832 "unauthorized by the Constitution of the United 
States, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof, 
and are null and void, and no law." It was further "or- 
dained, that in no case of law or equity, decided in ihe 
courts of said state, wherein shall be drawn in question 
the validity of said ordinance, or the acts of the legisla- 
ture that may be passed to give it effect, or of the said laws 
of the United States, no appeal shall be allowed to the 
Supreme Court of the United States, nor shall any copy of 
the record be permitted or allowed for that purpose, and 
that any person attempting to take such appeal shall be 
punished as for contempt of court." See president Jack- 
son's proclamation of December 11th, 1832. 

The convention passed various other ordinances of a 
very inflammatory character. Declaring a determination to 
withdraw from the union if the tariff laws were not repeal- 
ed or modified. It is proper to state that South Carolina 
is a cotton growing state, and after the raw article passes 
through a gm, it is packed in bales and shipped to Europe 
or to the manufactures of the eastern section of our Union. 
The spinning wheel and loom are but little used in South: 
Carolina, and it is probable that many of the inhabitants 
never saw either. Their mechanical genius goes but little 
beyond the cotton gin, worked by their mules and tended 
by their negroes. Consequently they have to clothe them- 
selves and negroes with foreign fabrics, skins, "fig-leaves,*' 
or adopt the only alternative. They, therefore, argue thai, 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. lOo 

a duty on imported cotton fabrics, lowers the price of their 
exported raw cotton in the European markets; and assum- 
ing the proposition as a fact, they next modestly contend 
that the tariff should be so adjusted as to protect the 
growers of cotton only; no other interest is to be taken 
into consideration. The writer understands that the cloth- 
ing of a grown negro in South Carolina does not cost more, 
annually, than shoes for a mule. They do not take into 
consideration that the effect of the tariff on cotton fabrics, 
gave rise to numerous and extensive cotton factories, in 
our own country, affording a home market, a better market 
than could be obtained if we had no tariff and no cotton 
factories. The tariff and the factories combine and unite 
a variety of interests which reduce the price of cotton 
fabrics. The price of a yard of cotton fabrics, upon ab- 
stract considerations, is of but little importance to the 
manufacturers: he looks to the quantity he sells for his 
profits. Suppose the tariff acts were all repealed, as is ad- 
vocated by many of its opponents, and the government 
supported by direct taxation? The effect would be that 
the vast quantity of importations would deprive our man- 
ufacturers and mechanics of opportunities to sell articles 
and fabrics to the amount of one dollar, where they now 
sell to the amount of five, ten, or more; the consequence 
would be, that they would be forced to abandon their av- 
ocations, and we should be at the mercy of foreigners, not 
on account of low prices, but from the quantity imported 
supplying the markets; and the prices would, after the de- 
struction of our factories and work shops, be raised upon us, 
Now, if South Carolina should abandon the growing of 
cotton and cultivate sugar — or if it were a sugar growing 
state — the mechanical genius which brought into operation 
the cotton gin, would put in motion the rollers for grinding 
the sugar cane; they would not send the cane to Europe to 
be ground and manufactured, as they now do their raw cot- 
ton; and they, with a view of protection, would then require 
a high tariff upon imported sugar. The object of that state 
is exclusive protection. If they would add to the cotton gin 
the necessary machinery for manufacturing it into fabrics, 
ihey would become advocates for the protective system. 



106 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Looking at one side of the question, they consider that a 
high tariff protects rhe grower of sugar, and that a low tariff 
protects the cultivator of cotton. The protective system 
may not be as beneficial to the cultivator of cotton as to the 
grower of sugar; but that is debatable, and a decision either 
way could net afford an argument against the policy of fos- 
tering home industry. It is not contended that a tariff could 
be so adjusted as to produce equal benefits and blessings 
throughout our country; but it is the duty of the govern- 
ment to give all the protection it can to all classes of society. 
The cultivation of cotton in the Indies and other southern 
countries is producing a change in the views of our politi- 
cians in the cotton growing states and may bring them to 
their senses. The soil of the cotton sections of our country 
is represented, generally, to be a bed of sand, rendered pro- 
ductive by the decomposition of vegetable matter. It will 
then soon be exhausted by the successive crops of cotton 
and rendered unproductive, and can only be resuscitated 
either by the introduction of grass and raising of stock, or 
by abandoning it and suffering it to clothe and shade itself 
by reproducing forest trees, which would require as many 
years as had rolled away in impoverishing it by the cultiva- 
tion of cotton. 

The proclamation of president Jackson, of December 11, 
1S32, is firm, energetic and dignified in language, and is 
generally acknowledged to be an able state paper and sound 
in doctrine. No proclamation, perhaps, was ever more uni- 
versally approved. 

"When gentlemen have succeeded in their design of an 
immediate or gradual destruction of the American system, 
what is their substitute? Free trade! Free trade! The call 
fcr free trade is as unavailing as the cry of a spoiled child, 
in its nurse's arms, for the moon or the stars that glitter in 
the firmament of heaven. It never has existed; it never 
will exist. Trade implies, at least, two parties. To be free, 
it should be fair, equal, and reciprocal. But if we throw our 
ports wide open to the admission of foreign productions, 
free of all duty, what ports, of any foreign nation, shall we 
find open to the free admission of cur surplus produce? We 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 107 

may break down all barriers to free trade on our part, but the 
work will not be complete until foreign powers shall have 
removed theirs. There would be freedom on one side, and 
restrictions, prohibitions, and exclusions on the other. The 
bolts, and the bars, and the chains of all other nations will 
remain undisturbed, it is indeed, possible that our indus- 
try and commerce would accommodate themselves to this 
unequal and unjust state of things; for such is the flexibility 
of our nature that it bends itself to all circumstances. The 
wretched prisoner, incarcerated in a jail, after a long time, 
becomes reconciled to his solitude, and regularly notches 
down the passing days of his confinement. 

♦'Gentlemen deceive themselves. It is not free trade that 
they are recommending to our acceptance. It is, in effect, 
the British colonial system that we are invited to adopt; and, 
if their policy prevail, it will lead, substantially, to the re- 
colonization of these states, under the commercial dominion 
of Great Britain. And whom do we find some of the prin- 
cipal supporters, out of Congress, of this foreign system? 
Mr. President, there are some foreigners who always remain 
exotics, and never become naturalized in our country: whilst, 
happily, there are many others who readily attach themselves 
to our principles and our institutions. The honest, patient, 
and industrious German, readily unites with our people, es- 
tablishes himself upon some of our fat land, fills his capa- 
cious barn, and enjoys, in tranquility, the abundant fruits 
which his diligence gathers around him, always ready to fly 
to the standard of his adopted country or to its laws, when 
called by the duties of patriotism. The gay, the versatile, 
the philosophic Frenchman, accomodating himself cheerfully 
to all the vicissitudes of life, incorporates himself, without 
difficulty in our society. But of all foreigners, none amal- 
gamate themselves so quickly with our people as the natives 
of the Emerald isle. Jn some of the visions which have 
passed through my imagination, I have supposed that Ireland 
was, originally, part and parcel of this country, and that, by 
some extraordinary convulsion of nature, it was torn from 
America, and, drifting across the ocean, was placed in the 
unfortunate vicinity of Great Britain. The same open-heart- 
ed ness; the same generous hospitality; the same careless and 



108 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

uncaiculating indifference about human life, characterises the 
inhabitants of both countries. Kentucky has sometimes been 
cailed the Ireland of America. And I have no doubt that, 
if the current of emigration were reversed, and set from A- 
mericatothe shores of Europe, instead of bearing from Eu- 
rope to America, every American emigrant to Ireland, would 
there find, as every Irish emigrant here- finds, a hearty wel- 
come and a happy home. 

"But, sir, the gentleman to whom I am about to allude, 
although long a resident of this country, has no feeling, no 
attachment, no sympathy, no principle, in common with 
our people. Near fifty years ago, Pennsylvania took him 
to her bosom, and warmed, and cherished, and honoured 
him; and how does he manifest his gratitude? By siming 
a vital blow at a system endeared to her prosperity. He 
has filled, at home and abroad, some of the highest offices 
under this government, during thirty years, and he is still 
at heart an alien. The authority of his name has been in- 
voked, and the labours of his pen, in form of a memorial 
to Congress, have been engaged, to overthrow the Ameri- 
can system and substitute the foreign. Go home to your 
native Europe, and there inculcate, upon her sovereigns, 
your Utopian doctrines of free trade, and when you have 
prevailed upon them to unseal their ports, and freely admit 
the produce of Pennsylvania, and other states, come back 
and we shall be prepared to become converts, and adopt 
your faith.'' 

fct A Mr. Sarchet, also, makes no inconsiderable figure in 
the common attack upon our system. I do not know the 
man, but I understand he is an unnaturalized emigrant from 
the island of Guernsey, situated in the channel which di- 
vides France and England. The principal business of the 
inhabitants, is that of driving a contraband trade with op- 
posite shores; and Mr. Sarchet, educated in that school, is, 
I have been told, chiefly engaged in employing his wits to 
elude the operation of our revenue laws, by introducing 
articles at less rates of duty than they are justly chargea- 
ble with, which he effects by varying the denominations, 
or slightly changing their forms. This man, at a former 
session of the senate, caused to be presented a memorial 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 105 

signed by some 150 pretended workers in iron. Of these 
a gentleman made a careful inquiry and examination, and 
ascertained that there were only about ten of the denomi- 
nation represented; the rest were tavern-keepers, porter?, 
merchant's clerks, hackney coachmen, &c. I have the 
most respectable authority, in black and white, for this 
Statement." 

[Here, General Ilayne asked "Who? and was he a man- 
ufacturer?"] Mr. Clay replied: '"Col. Murray, of New 
York; a gentleman of the highest standing for honor, pro- 
bity and veracity; he did not know whether he was a man- 
ufacturer or not, but the gentleman might take him as 
one.* Whether Mr. Sarchet got up the late petition pre- 
sented to the Senate, from the journeymen tailors of Phil- 
adelphia, or not, I do not know. But I should not be 
surprised if it were a movement of his, and if we should 
find that he has cabbaged from other classes of society to 
swell out the number of signatures. 

"To the facts manufactured by Mr. Sarchet, and the 
theories of Mr. Gallitin, there was yet wanting one cir- 
cumstance to recommend them to favourable consider- 
ation, and that was authority of some high foreign name. 
There was no difficulty in obtaining cne from a British re- 
pository. The honorable gentleman has cited a speech of 
my lord Goodrich, addressed to the British parliament, in 
favour of the free trade, and full of regret that old England 
could not possibly conform her praciice of vigorous res- 
triction and exclusion to her liberal doctrines of unfettered 
commerce, so earnestly recommended to foreign powers. 
"Sir," said Mr. C. "I know my lord Goodrich very well, 
although my acquaintance with him was prior to his being 
summoned to the British house of peers. We both signed 
ihe convention between the U. States and Great Britain in 
13I5. V ***** If he were to live tu 
the age of Methuselah, he could not make a speech of such 
ability and eloquence as that which the gentleman from S. 
Carolina recently delivered to the Senate; and Lh°r: would 



*Mr. Clar, subsequently understood that Col. Murray was a mer- 
chant. 



1 1 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

be more fitness in my lord Goodrich making quotations 
from the speech of the honorable gentleman, than his quo- 
ting, as authority, the theoretic doctrines of pny lord Good- 
rich. We are too much in the habit of looking abroad, 
not merely for manufactured articles, but for the sanction 
of high names, to support favorite theories. * 

"I dislike the resort to authority, and especially foreign 
and interested authority, for the support of principles of 
public policy. J would greatly prefer to meet gentlemen 
upon the broad ground of fact, of experience, and of rea- 
son, but since thej will appeal to British names and author- 
ity, I feel myself compelled to imitate their bad example. 
Allow me to quote from the speech of a member of the 
British parliament, bearing the same family name of my 
lord Goodrich, but whether or not a relation of his 5 I do 
not know. The member alluded to was arguing against 
the violation of the treaty of Methuen — that treaty not less 
fatal to the interests of Portugal than would be the system 
of gentlemen to the best interests of America — and he went 
on to say: — 

" 'It was idle for us to endeavor to persuade other nations 
to join with us in adopting the principles oj ivhat ivas 
called "free trade." Other nations knew as well as the 
noble lord opposite, and those who acted ivith him, ivhat 
we meant by 'free trad& n was nothing more nor less than 
by the means of the great advantages we enjoyed, to get a 
monopoly of all their markets for our manufactures, and 
to prevent them, cue and all,jrom ever becoming manufac- 
turing nations. When the system of reciprocity and free 
trade had been proposed to a French ambassador, his re- 
mark was, that the plan was excellent in theory, but to make 
it fair in practice, it would be necessary to defer the at- 
tempt half a century, until France should be on the same 
footing with Great Britain; in marine, in manufactures, in 
capital, and the many other peculiar advantages which it 
now enjoyed The policy that France acted on was that of 
encouraging its own native^ manufacturers, and it was a 
wise policj*, because, if it were to freely admit our manu- 
factures, it would speedily be reduced to the rank of an 
agricultural nation; and tkcrejore a poor nation, as all must 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. Ill 

be that depend exclusively upon agriculture. But since the 
peace, France, Germany, America, and all the nations of 
the world, had proceeded upon the principle of encoura- 
ging and protecting native manufactures.' 

u But I have said that the principle nominally called 
''free trade," so earnestly and eloquently recommended to 
our adoption, is a mere revival of the British colonial sys- 
tem forced upon us by great Britian during the existence 
of our colonial vassalage. The whole system is fully ex- 
plained and illustrated in a work published as far back as 
the year 1750, entitled the trade and navigation of Great 
Britain considered by Joshua Gee, with extracts from 
which I have been furnished by thedilligent researches of 
a friend. It will be seen from these, that the South Caro- 
lina policy now, is identical with the long cherished policy 
of Great Britain, which remains the same as it was when 
the thirteen colonies were part of the British empire. In 
that work the author contends — 

6 "That manufactures, in the American colonies, should 
be discouraged or prohibited! 

"'•Great Britain, with its dependencies, is doubtless a3 
well able to subsist within itself as any nation in Europe; 
we have an enterprising people, fit for all the acts of peace 
and war: we have provisions in abundance, and those of 
the best sort, and are able to raise sufficient for double the 
number of inhabitants: we have the very best materials for 
clothing, and want nothing either for use or even for lux- 
ury but what we have at home or might have from our col- 
onies: So that Wt" might make such an intercourse of trade 
among ourselves, or between us and them, as would main- 
tain a vast navigation. But we ought always to keep a 
watchful eye over our colonies, to restrain them from set- 
ting up any oj the manufactures which are carried on in 
Britain, and any such attempts should be crushed in the 
beginning; /or, if they are suffered to grow up to matu- 
rity, it will be difficult to suppress them.' 5? Pages, 177, 
'8 and '9. 

No unprejudiced man can read the foregoing without 
perceiving the policy of Great Brit iin towards the colonies, 
and which that haughty nation still attempts to enforce 



113 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

against this nation, is precisely the same, in effect, as is 
advocated by the opponents of protection. Without ques- 
lioning the motives of any man, the interests of Great Bri- 
tain, and other manufacturing European countries, are more 
successfully supported on the floor of Congress, by the op- 
ponents of American industry, than they possibly could be, 
if they were permitted to send an equal number of rep- 
resentatives to Congress. What would the American peo- 
ple say if Great Britain and other foreign cations were 
permitted to send representatives to Congress to teach us 
to support their interests and disregard our own? If free 
trade is so desirable, why does not Great Britain and oth- 
er foreign nations, who recommended it to us, prove their 
sincerity by opening their ports to our surplus produce, 
free of duty. As well might it be expected that infants 
could grow to maturity, without the aid of parents or nur- 
ses, as for the industry of our country to be justly reward- 
ed without the protection from the arm of government. If 
a man from Virginia, or any other state, should bring into 
Maryland, baskets, brooms, rakes, wooden forks and oilier 
articles, of his own manufacture, and "sell or oiler to sell" 
without license, he would, on conviction before a magis- 
trate have, to pay a fine of not more than fifty nor less than 
ten dollars with cost. This law, certainly, was not passed 
under the impression, that our own basket-makers, broom- 
makers, Stc. cuuld not afford to make and self them as 
cheap as the mechanics of Virginia and other states; but, 
because, our own basket-makers, broom-makers, &.C., can 
supply us. Virginians and Pennsylvanians have paid fines 
ior violating this law. See laws of Md. for 1840 and Ml, 
ch:p. 134. Whilst the writer was acting as a justice of 
the peace under Gov. Grason, an officer of the law, brought 
before him a Pennsylvaflian charged with having "offered" 
to sell wood-forks, such as are used in handling hay and 
straw; bnt for want of evidence lie was acquitted. On other 
occasions, and on proof he gave judgment against the of- 
fender.-, and the fines were collected: and jet many are 
opposed to protection against foreign competition. Mr. 
Gee further saith — 

"J should, therefore, think it worthy the care of the gey-= 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 113 

efnment to endeavour, by ail possible means, to encourage 
them in raising silk, hernp, flax, iron, (only pig to be ham- 
mered in England,) potash, Sec , by giving them competent 
bounties in the beginning, and sending over judicious and 
skilful persons, at the public charge, to assist and instruct 
them in the most proper methods of management, which, 
in my apprehension, would lay a foundation for establishing 
the most profitable trade of any we have. And consider- 
ing the commanding situation of our colonies along the 
sea-coast, the great convenience of navigable rivers in all 
of them, the cheapness of land, and the easiness of rais- 
ing provisions, great numbers of people would transport 
themselves thither to settle upon such improvements. — 
Now, as people have been filled with fears that the colonies, 
if encouraged to raise rough materials, would set up for 
themselves, a little regulation would remove all those 
jealousies out of the way. They have never thrown or 
wove any silk, as yet, that we have heard of. Therefore, 
if a law was made to prohibit every throwster's mill, or 
doubling or horsling silk with any machine, whatever, 
they would thus send it to us raw. And, as they will have 
the providing of rough materials to themselves, so shall we 
have the manufacturing of them. If encouragement be 
given for raising hemp, flax, &c, doubtless they will soon 
begin to manufacture, if not prevented, Therefore, to 
stop the progress of any such manufactures, it is proposed 
that no weaver there shall have liberty to set up any looms 
without first registering at an office, kept for the purpose, 
and the name and place of abode of any journeyman that 
shall work with him. But if any particular inhabitant'" 
(mark the words, particular inhabitant,) "shall be inclin- 
ed to have anj linen or woolen made of their own spin- 
ning, they should not be abridged of the same liberty that 
they now make use of, viz: to carry it to a weaver, (who 
shall be licensed by the governor) and have it wrought up 
for the use of the family, but not to be sold to any person 
in a private manner, nor exposed to any market or fair, up-' 
on pain of forfeiture." 

What think you of the forgoing reader? Is it a blessing 
.or a curse, to the great body of the people, that nearlv half 
H 



114 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

of our members of Congress are advocating a policy 
-which, if carried out, would have the effect desired by 
European governments, of "crushing" our manufactures, 
increasing our agricultural productions and lowering the 
price? The crowned heads of Europe might well be 
proud of the advocates of their policy in the American 
Congress — paid by the American people and advocating a 
policy consistent with the interest of the manufactures of 
foreign countries. Suppose, for the sake of argument, 
(which is positively denied,) that the protective system has 
an unfavorable bearing upon the cotton planters; ought all 
other interests be sacrificed, all manufactures beyond 
those produced by the col ton gin to be crushed? It ought 
not to be satisfactory to the body of the people that those 
who oppose the protective system are influenced by correct 
motives. As we cannot always know the motives of men, 
we should never impeach them unnecessarily. Taking, 
as granted, that all our representatives are governed by 
correct motives, we should, without prejudice or regard to 
party names, judge of their measures. It cannot be pos- 
sible that the two great parties call into question the mo- 
tives of each other. That there are illiberal individuals in 
all political parties, will not be denied; but we are discuss- 
ing measures, not impeaching or questioning motives. — 
"And, ,: says Mr. Gee, "inasmuch as they have been sup- 
plied with all their manufactures from hence, except what 
are used in building ships and other country work, one-half 
of our exports being supposed to be in nails — a manufac- 
ture which they allow has never hitherto been carried on 
among them — it is proposed they shall, for time to come, 
never erect the manufacture of any under the size of a two 
shilling nail, horse nails excepted; that all slitting mills 
and engines, for drawing wire or weaving stockings, be 
put down; and, that every smith, who keeps a common 
forge or shop, shall register his name and place of abode, 
and the name of every servant which he shall employ, 
which license shall be renewed once every year, and pay 
for the liberty of working* at such trade. That all negroes 
shall be prohibited from weaving either linen or woollen, 
or spinning or combing of wool, or working at any manu- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 115 

fecture of iron, further than making it into pig or bar iron. 
That they also be prohibited from manufacturing hats, 
stockings, or leather of any kind. This limitation will 
not abridge the planters of any privilege they now enjoy. 
On the contrary, it will turn their industry to promoting and 
raising those rough materials. 

"It is hoped that this method would allay the heat that 
some people have shown for destroying the iron-works on 
the plantations and pulling down all their forges — taking 
away, in a violent manner, their estates and properties — 
preventing the husbandmen from getting their ploughshares, 
carts, and other utensils mended; destroying the manufac- 
ture of ship building, by depriving them of the liberty of 
making bolts, spikes, and other things proper for carrying 
on that work, by which article returns are made for pur- 
chasing our woollen manufactures. Pages 87, 88, 89. 

"If we examine into the circumstances of the inhabit- 
ants of our plantations and our own, it will appear that not 
one-fourth part of their product redounds to their own 
profit; for, out of all that comes here, they only carry back 
clothing and other accommodations for their families; all 
of which is of the merchandise and manufacture of this 
kingdom. 

"All these advantages we receive from the plantations, 
besides the mortgages on the planters' estates, and the high 
interests they pay us, which are very considerable; and 
therefore very good care should be taken, in regulating ail 
affairs of the colonists, that the planters be not put under 
too many difficulties, but encouraged to go on cheerfully. 

"New England and the northern colonies, have not com- 
modities and products enough to send us in return for pur- 
chasing their necessary clothing, but are under very great 
difficulties; and, therefore, any ordinary sort sell with them. 
And when they have grown out of fashion wiih us they 
are new fashioned enough for them." 

From the foregoing we perceive that the British design- 
ed their old coats, shoes, and other worn and unfashionable 
clothing for the Yankees, whom they considered too poor 
to buy new and fashionable clothing. What deliberate, 
cold and heartless impudence! Who ever saw a Yankee 
H2 



116 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

clothed in rag's, or too poor to purchase new, substantial, 
and fashionable clothing] 

"Sir," said Mr, Clay "I cannot go on with this disgust- 
ing detail. Their refuse goods, their old shop-keepers, 
their cast off clothes, good enough for us! Was there ever 
a scheme more artfully devised by which the energies and 
facilities of one people should be kept down and rendered 
subservient to the pride, and the pomp, and the power of 
another? The system, then proposed, differs only from 
that which is now recommended, in one particular; that 
was intended to be enforced by power, this would not be 
less effectually executed by the force of circumstances. 
A gentleman in Boston, (Mr. Lee,) the agent of the Free 
Trade Convention, from whose exhaustless mint there is a 
constant issue of reports, seems to envy the blessed condi- 
tion of dependent Canada, when compared to the oppress- 
ed state of this Union; it is a fair inference from the view 
which he presents, that he would have us hasten back to 
the golden days of that colonial bondage, which is so well 
depicted in the work from which I have been quoting. 
Mr. Lee exhibits two tabular statements, in one of which, 
he presents the high duties which he represents to be paid 
in the ports of the United States, and, in the other, those 
which are paid in Canada, generally about two per cent. 
ad valorem. But did it not occur to him that the duties 
levied in Canada are laid chiefly upon British manufactures, 
or on articles, passing from one part to another, of a com- 
mon empire] and to present a parallel case, in the United 
3, he ought to have shown that importations made into 
one slate from another, which are now free, are subject to 
the same or higher duties than are paid in Canada. 55 

-In the foregoing, the rational principle is laid down that 
Iters not as to the effect, whether a man is deprived 
of his money or goods, by the application of force, or 
whether he is cheated and swindled by morahmeans. Un- 
der the colonial government Britain held in reserve, force 
which was to be applied in the event of their civil policy 
failing. We are now an independent nation, and it will 
r.ot do for Britain to use, or thraaten, force, and she resorts 
to moral means to keep us in just such a state of depend- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 1. 1 7 

ence as were the colonies. It is reasonable to conclude, 
that Britain has among us hired agents, who labour for 
their royal employers, in attempting to write down our 
mechanics and manufactured articles and clothe us with 
their fabrics — particularly such as are "unfashionable." 

"I will now, Mr. President," continued the Kentucky 
statesman, "proceed to a more particular consideration of 
the arguments urged against the protective system, and 
inquire into its practical operation, especially on the cotton 
growing country. And, as I wish to state and meet the 
argument fairly, I invite the correction of it, if necessary 
It is alleged that the system operates prejudicially to the 
cotton planter, by diminishing the foreign demand for his 
staple; that we cannot sell to Great Britain, unless we buy 
from her; that the import duty is equivalent to an export 
duty, and falls upon the cotton grower; that South Caro- 
lina pays a disproportionate quota of the public revenue; 
that an abandonment of the protective policy would lead 
to an augmentation of our exports of an amount not less 
than one hundred and fifty millions of dollars; and, finally^ 
that the south cannot partake of the advantages of manu- 
facturing if there be any. Let us examine these various 
propositions, in detail. First, that the foreign demand for 
cotton is diminished, and that we cannot sell to Great 
Britain unless we buy from her. The demand of both 
our great foreign customers is constantly and annually in- 
creasing. It is time that the ratio of increase may not be 
equal to that of production; but this is owing to the fact 
that the power of producing the raw material is much 
greater, and is therefore constantly in advance of the pow- 
er of consumption. >A single fact will illustrate. The 
actual produce of labourers engaged in the cultivation of 
cotton may be estimated at five bales, or fifteen hundred 
pounds to the hand. Suppose the average consumption 
of each individual who uses cotton clothing to be five 
pounds, one hand can produce enough of the raw material 
to clothe three hundred." 

It is obvious that so long as England or any other foreign 
nation is dependent on us, in whole or in part, for raw cot- 
ton for their manufactories, that the demand will be in- 



1 18 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

creased in proportion to the quantity consumed by our 
own manufacturers; hence, the grower has the advantage 
of a home and foreign market; the latter increased. The 
grower of grain and producer of other provisions is ben- 
efitted by a home market in proportion to the number of 
persons engaged in, and supported by, manufactures. The 
increased price of grain and other food is beneficial alike 
to agriculturalists, mechanics and labourers; particularly to 
the two latter, who obtain employment and sale for their 
manufactured articles. If two merchants sell at the same 
profit, but one sells double the amount sold by the other, 
he makes double the money on the amount sold; and whilst 
the profits of one may not be equal to his necessary ex- 
penditures, the other may be daily advancing in wealth and 
comfort. Apply this to the agriculturalists and mechanics. 
The mechanic and labourer cannot be benefitted by a low 
price of provisions whilst they are thrown out of employ- 
ment. Farmers and all classes! view this subject upon the 
principle of interest, patriotism and regard for your wives 
and children, without reference to party politics. 
,We continue the quotation: 

"The argument (against protection) contains two errors; 
one of fact, the other of principle. It assumes that we do 
not in fact purchase of Great Britain. What is the true 
state of the case? There are certain, but very few articles 
which it is thought sound policy requires that we should 
manufacture at home; and on these the tariff operates. But 
with respect to all the rest, and much the larger number 
of articles of taste, fashion, or utility, they are subject to 
no other than revenue duties and are freely introduced. I 
have before me from the Treasury a statement of our im- 
ports from England, Scotland and Ireland, including ten 
years preceding the last and th/ee-quarters of the last year, 
from which it will appear that, although there are some 
fluctuations in the amount of the different years, the larg- 
est amount imported in any one year has been since the 
tariff of 1S24, and that the last year's importation, when 
the returns of the fourth quarter shall be received, will 
probably be the greatest in the whole term of eleven years.'* 
The foregoing paragraph ought to be committed to mem* 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 113 

cry; at least the principles and facts which it contains, all 
of which should be impartially considered. A tariff to be 
protective, must be discriminating* and applied to such ar- 
ticles exclusively as can, with convenience, be produced 
or manufactured to any required extent in our country, 
thereby producing a laudable competition among our own 
citizens, insuring employment to the industrious and pro- 
moting the comfort, happiness and onward prosperity of all. 
It cannot be expected that the protective system can ex- 
tend equal benefits to all. Localities cannot be changed 
by legislation; we can reach certain degrees of latitude 
or longitude, but we cannot change them. But a tariff may 
be more or less protective to all, in its general bearing, 
without being unjust to any. Mr. Clay continues: 

"Now, if it be admitted that there is a less amount of the 
protected articles imported from Great Britain, she maybe, 
and probably is, compensated for the deficiency, by the 
increased consumption in America of the articles of her 
industry not falling within the scope of the policy of our 
protection. The establishment of manufactures among us 
excites the creation of wealth, and this gives new powers 
of consumption, which are gratified by the purchase of for- 
eign objects. A poor nation can never be a great consu- 
ming nation. Its poverty will limit its consumption to a 
bare subsistence. 

"The erroneous principle which the argument includes, 
is, that it devolves on us the duly of taking care that Great 
Britain shall be enabled to purchase from us without ex- 
acting from Great Britain the corresponding duty. If it 
be true on one side, that nations are bound to shape their 
policy in reference to the ability of foreign powers, it must 
be true on both sides of the Atlantic. And this recipro- 
cal obligation ought to be emphatically regarded towards 
the nation supplying the raw material, by the manufactur- 
ing nation, because the industry of the latter gives four or 
five values to what has been produced by the industry of 
ihe former. 

"But, does Great Britain practice towards us upon the 
principles which we are now required to observe in regard 
£© her? The exports to the United Kingdom, as appears 



J 20 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

from the same Treasury statement just adverted to, during 
the eleven years, from 1821 to 1881, and exclusive of the 
fourth quarter of the last year, fail short of the amount of 
imports by upwards of forty-six millions of dollars, and the 
total amount, when the returns of that quarter are received, 
will exceed fifty millions of dollars! It is surprising how 
we have been able to sustain, for so long a time, a trade so 
very unequal. We must have been absolutely ruined by it, 
if the unfavourable balance had not been neutralized by 
more profitable commerce with other parts of the world. 
Of all nations, Great Britain has the least cause to complain 
of the trade between the two countries. Our imports from 
that single power are nearly one-third of the entire amount 
of our importations from all foreign nations together. 
Great Britain constantly acts on the maxim of buying only 
what she wants and cannot produce, and selling to foreign 
nations to the utmost amount she can. In conformity 
with this maxim she excludes articles of prime necessity 
produced by us — equally if not more necessary than any 
of her industry which we tax, although the admission of 
those articles would increase our ability to purchase from 
her, according to the arguments of gentlemen. v 

A family represents a nation in miniature; as much so as 
does a map represent upon a small scale the physical geog- 
raphy of a country. Now, if the expenditures of a family 
are greater than the income, it must be sinking in wealth 
and comfort. If the expenditures of a man are annually 
one hundred dollars more than his income, at the end of 
ten years he will find himseif at least two thousand dollars 
in debt, and if he continues his course, at the end of twenty 
years he will be a bankrupt, unless he has a very large es- 
tate; because he could only support his credit by borrow- 
ing money; and he who borrows money on a sinking capi- 
tal pays more than legal interest; and if he cannot pay one 
debt by contracting another on terms unfavourable to him- 
self, he must fall into the hands of the sheriff. 

u If, v said Mr. Clay, "we purchased still less from Great 
Britain than we do, and our conditions were reversed, so 
that the value of her imports from fhis country exceeded 
that of her exports to it, she would only then be compeli- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 121 

ed to do what we have so long done, and what South Car- 
olina does in her trade with Kentucky — make up the un- 
favourable balance by trade with other places and countries- 
How does she now dispose of the one hundred and sixty 
millions dollars' worth of cotton fabrics, which she annu- 
ally sells? Of that amount~the United States do not pur- 
chase five per cent. What becomes of the other ninety- 
five percent? Is it not sold to other powers, and would 
not their markets remain if ours were totally shut? Would 
she not continue, as she now finds it her interest, to pur- 
chase the raw material from us, to supply those markets? 
Would she be guilty of the folly of depriving herself of 
markets to the amount of upwards of one hundred and 
fifty millions of dollars, because we refused her a market 
for some eight or ten millions? 

; 'But if there were a diminution of the British demand 
for cotton equal to the loss of a market for the few British 
fabrics which are within the scope of our protective policy, 
the question would still remain, whether the cotton plant- 
er is not amply indemnified by the creation of additional 
demand elsewhere. With respect to the cotton grower, it 
is the totality of the demand, and not its distribution, which 
affects his interests. If any system of policy will augment 
the aggregate of demand, that system is favourable to his 
interests, although its tendency may be to vary the theatre 
of the demand. It could not, for example, be injurious to 
him, if instead of Great Britain continuing to receive the 
entire quantity of cotton which she now does, two or three 
hundred thousand bales of it were taken to the other side 
of the channel and increased to the extent that the French 
demand. It would be better for him; because it is always 
better to have several markets than one. Now, if, instead 
of a transfer to the opposite side of the channel, those two 
or three hundred thousand bales are transported to the 
northern states, can that be injurious to the cotton grower? 
Is it not better for him? Is it not better to have a market 
at home, unaffected by war or other foreign causes, for that 
amount of hi9 staple?" 

ki Jf the establishment of American manufactures, therefore, 
bad the sole effect of creating a new, and an American, de- 



129 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

mand for cotton, exactly to the same extent in which it les- 
sened the British demand, there would be no just cause of 
complaint against the tariff. The gain in one place would 
precisely equal the loss in the other. But the true state 
of the case is much more favorable to the cotton grower. — 
It is calculated that the cotton manufactories of the United 
States absorb at least two hundred thousand bales of cotton 
annually. I believe it to be more. The two ports of Bos- 
ton and Providence, alone, received, during last year, near 
one hundred and ten thousand bales. The amount is an- 
nually increasing. The raw material of that two hundred 
thousand bales is worth six millions of dollars, and there is 
an additional value conferred by the manufacturer of eigh- 
teen millions; it being generally calculated that, in such cct- 
ton fabrics as we are in the habit of making, the manufacture 
constitutes three-fourths of the value of the article. If, 
therefore, these twenty -four millions of dollars worth of cot- 
ton fabrics were not made in the United States, but were 
made in Great Britain, in order to attain them, we would 
have to add to the already enormous disproportion between 
the amount of our imports and exports, in the trade with 
Great Britain, the further sum of twenty-tour millions, or, 
deducting the price of the raw material, eighteen millions. 
And will gentlemen tell me how it would be possible for this 
country to sustain such a ruinous trade. * 
The cotton grower sells the raw material to the manufactu- 
rer; lie buys the iron, the bread, the meal, the coal and the 
countless number of objects of consumption, from his fellow- 
citizens, and they, in turn, purchase his fabrics. * 
The main argument of gentlemen is founded upon the idea 
of mutual ability resulting from mutual exchanges. They 
would furnish an ability by purchasing from them, and I, to 
our own people, by exchanges at home" 

It has been asserted by some of the opponents of the pro- 
tective system, that if a tariff duty cheapened the price of 
some articles of importation, from the very same principle, 
it would reduce the price of all imported articles, and, con- 
sequently, that a tariff might be put upon tea and coffee, so 
high as to reduce the price of the former to a fip, and the 
latter to one cent per pound, whilst the revenue would be 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 125 

increased in the same proportion to the decrease in the pri- 
ces of the articles. They then exulted in imaginary triumphs, 
at what they considered an unanswerable argument. Al- 
though men, whose minds are warped by prejudice or party, 
may not be entitled to as much commisseration as those who 
are born blind, yet they ought to be treated with courtesy, 
Arguments and facts would not be more unavailing with a 
dead man than with a living man, so long as the latter un- 
flinchingly rejected both — but where there is life there is 
hope. Ridicule, affirmatives, and negatives do not always 
pass current for arguments, and we shall address ourselves to 
the sense, not to the prejudices, of the reader. The advo- 
cates of protection never did assert that a high or a low tariff 
would create a competition among growers of those articles 
in the United States, and, thereby, increase the quantity and 
lower the price; because, those articles never have been cul- 
tivated within its limits, and, it is believed, that no portion 
of our soil and climate is genial to the growth of either. — 
Consequently, the opponents of the protective system make 
themselves meny by charging their opponents wiih senti- 
ments which they do not entertain, never advanced, but re- 
pudiate. If a tariff is laid on tea and coffee, it is only jus- 
tifiable as revenue, and not called for on the principle of 
protection. But the advocates of protection do assert that 
the tendency of the system is to reduce the prices of cotton 
and woollen fabrics, boots, shoes, hats, iron, and various other 
articles, and, at the same time, increase the profits, and add 
to the solid comfort of labourers and manufacturers, by se- 
curing to them a r.arket for their manufactured articles. — 
And they not only offer arguments, but facts, to support them. 
But the enemies of protection when driven from one ground, 
assume another as untenable as the one which they aban- 
doned—to wit: that if it lowers the price of tiie articles pro- 
tected, it lowers the wages of the mechanics and labouring 
men; and that, tco, in the very face of the facts, that by giv- 
ing our own mechanics the advantage of the home market, 
they obtain steady employment and ready sale for their 
manufactured articles; and we repeat that it is not the profit 
a mechanic makes upon the sale of a single article, upon 
which he relies for a fortune, or even comfort, but on the 



124 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

quantity he annually sells and constant employment. 

Neither the manufacturer, the mechanic, or the political 
advocates of the system ask any other protection than that, 
which by decreasing the quantity of certain imported arti- 
cles secures to our mechanics a home market, and creates a 
wholesome competition. If such protection did not reduce 
the price of articles, no injustice could be done to any class; 
and, if it cheapened, as we have and will further prove, the 
reduction flows from the industry of our own citizens in the 
abundant quantity .furnished by them, and adds to their com- 
fort. To speak and to write ironically, with the intention 
of being so understood, has been resorted to by some of the 
purest moral characters, and has sometimes proven to be the 
most powerful weapon in putting down error. Perhaps the 
best mode of polemical discussion with an uncompromising 
opponent of the protective system, would be to unite with 
him in asserting that it is of no consequence to us whether 
our exports to foreign nations are admitted/ree, or pay a tar- 
iff equal to double their value — that the duty is paid by the 
consumers, and that president Jackson and other presidents 
were wrong in complaining of the "burthens" imposed upon 
our exports by foreign nations. And then, take the opposite 
on this side of the ocean, and assert that our ports ought to 
be thrown open to all nations and all importations admitted 
free of duty, and government supported by a direct tax.— 
The foregoing embodies, truly, the substance of the argu- 
ments of those who contend for what they call free trade, 
and boldly declare in favour of abolishing the tariff and re- 
sorting to direct taxation. Perhaps the best mode to refute 
their arguments would be to ironically, and in good temper, 
admit them. 

There are thousands of rational men who deny the exis- 
tence of air as a material substance, notwithstanding they 
frequently open their doors and windows in warm weather 
for its admission, and close them for its exclusion in winter. 
They hear the wind blow, and plainly see its effects on land 
and water, and yet deny the existence of air. Every one of 
those rational men could be satisfactorily convinced of his 
error; — it could be as satisfactorily proven to him as is his 
pwn existence, by the use of proper apparatus, that sir is 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 125 

matter or substance, and that it can be weighed as can be a 
bale of cotton or a bag of coffee, or any thing else. How, 
then, does it happen that men can be made fully sensible of 
the existence of air, and of particles so minute as light, and 
yet that the most intelligent men in the nation differ so widely 
as to the effect of a tariff? One class asserting that its effects 
on certain specified articles of importation might increase 
the price, and that a tariff should be discriminating', whilst 
many others, equally intelligent and honest, contend that 
a tariff acts alike on all importations and increases the price 
to the consumer to the amount of the duty laid, to which the 
merchant, if it pass through his -hands, adds a per centage. 
Is it not wonderful that men of equal intelligence upon 
this subject should differ so widely as to the general prin- 
ciple involved? The difference between them is as great 
as that which exists between the negative and affirmative; 
one party affirming and the other denying, and that on a 
subject of such importance that each charges the other with 
advocating a policy which, if carried out, would produce 
wide-spread ruin and beggar the mass of the people. Surely 
we have arrived to a very important crisis if either policy 
is ruinous to us. Why do not our statesmen settle the ques- 
tion? The answer is easy. It involves a political party 
question. Bat the proposition relative to air and particles 
cf light is settled by physical science, which cannot 
be made a political party question, and the unfettered mind 
irresistibly and willingly grasps the truth. 

If the wbigs and democrats charged each other with hav- 
ing destroyed the equilibrium which pervaded throughout 
the planetary system forty years ago; with having decreased 
or increased the body of atmosphere which surrounded the 
globe, and with having thrown it out of lis orbit, they would 
throw aside Jefferson and Madison, the illustrious apostles 
of democracy, and cite Newton and Herschel to settle the 
question. If politicians would examine political measures 
from the same principle that students labour to acquire as- 
tronomical science — to arrive at truth — the question, so 
far as the general principle is concerned, would soon be 
settled. It is proper to remark, that whilst one party, with 
a few individual exceptions, is united upon and in support 



126 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

of the protective system, the other party is considerably 
divided. The democracy of numbers is certainly favour- 
able to protecting American industry; and judging from the 
intelligence of the people and the increasing discussions 
of the subject, the question will soon be settled as to the 
general principle. Time and circumstances will, doubtless, 
call for modifications to any tariff which could be framed; 
but the signs of the times indicate that the general princi- 
ple will soon be adjusted. All human measures and insti- 
tutions must be created and managed by human minds and 
hands, and cannot be more perfect than human minds can 
make them, time and circumstances will require modifica- 
tions, but the general principle of protection is founded 
upon reason and justice. 

Mr. Clay next proceeded to examine the second propo- 
sition: "That the import duty is equivalent to the export 
doty, and falls on the producer of cotton." 

[Here Gen. Hayne explained, and said that he never 
contended that an import duty was equivalent to an export 
duty, under all circumstances; he had explained in his 
speech his ideas of the precise operation of the existing 
system. Mr. Clay replied that he had seen the argument 
so stated in some of the ingenious essays from the South 
Carolina press, and would therefore answer it.] 

"The framers of our Constitution, by granting to Con- 
gress the power to lay import, and prohibiting that of lay- 
ing an export duty, manifested that they did not regard 
them as equivalent. Nor does the common sense of the 
people. An expoit duty fastens itself upon, and incorpo- 
rates itself with, the article on which it is laid. The arti- 
cle cannot escape from it — it pursues and follows it wher- 
ever it goes; and if, in the foreign market, the supply is 
just equal or above the demand, the amount of the export 
duty will be a clear deduction to the exporter from the price 
of the article." * * * * * * * 

The writer respectfully requests the reader toperusethe 
foregoing short paragraph a second time, or oftener, if ne- 
cessary to understand the leading principle laid down in it, 
and in reference to which all intelligent and unprejudiced 
cnen agree — that import and export duties are not equiv- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 137 

alrnt. Gen. Hayne, in his voluntary explanation, yield- 
ed to the principle advocated by the friends of protection, 
and refuted [he principle assumed by himself. The atten- 
tion of the reader is particularly invited to the sentiments 
of intelligent men of both parties upon the subject, all 
of whom, without a single exception, agree that an im- 
port duty is not equivalent to an export duty. It certainly 
matters not as to ihe number of dollars necessary to sup- 
port the government, whether the revenue is raised by an 
import or export duty; the same number of dollars and 
cents would be required in either case; the same number 
of custom-houses and custom-house-officers would be re- 
quisite. Now let us put the question directly to the peo- 
ple. Shall a tariff be continued on importations and no 
duty on our exported article? or shall the system be wholly 
changed, and a duty laid on all our exports, and all im- 
ported articles be admitted free of duty? All would go 
for a tariff on imports to the exclusion of a duty on our 
exported productions. Except those only who support for- 
eign interests and who are not Americans in principle or 
feeling, there could be no other exceptions; democrats and 
whigs both would agree upon this question. In the lan- 
guage and meaning of Mr. Jefferson, in his first inaugural 
address, "we are all lepublicans; we are all federalists. 55 

The writer will here relate an anecdote which he is as- 
sured occurred in a neighboring state. A farmer carried 
a basket of butter to market, sold it to a merchant and re- 
ceived payment in coffee, which the merchant told him he 
could sell cheaper, but for the tariff. "I thought," said 
the farmer, "that the producers anii not the consumers of 
coffee paid the duty. 5 ' "Not so," said the merchant; "the 
consumers pay the duty.'' 5 "Do the consumers of all 'ar- 
ticles upon which a duty or tax is laid, of any kind, direct 
or indirect always pay it? 51 asked the farmer, anxiously 
and with flashing eye. "Invariably; without an exception," 
said the merchant. "Then," said the farmer "I have a small 
but just claim upon you. In coming to market, I paid a 
fip for crossing the bridge and must pay another on my re- 
turn, and yet I sold my butter no higher than those who 
Teached the market-place without crossing the river,and 1 de- 



128 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

mand of you twelve-and-a-half cents or a pound of coffee. r> 
The toll paid by the farmer for crossing the river was, in 
effect, a tariff upon bis butter, no part of which was paid 
by the merchant who was the purchaser and consumer. 
Just so with coffee and every other article which cross the 
ocean, and are subjected to toll, (tariff;) they are wholly paid 
by the producer* if the toll is judiciously laid. But it 
might be so high as to amount to prohibition or to throw 
Si part of the toll upon the consumer. In the latter case, 
by deducting from the tariff the portion paid by the pro- 
ducer, the profits of the merchant on the coffee were not 
affected by his opinion that the farmer paid the tariff. — 
Merchants are as liable to commit errors in opinion as 
other men. They are, however, a useful and necessary 
class of society; the} 7 purchase our surplus productions and 
pay for them in money or such articles as are required, 
It would be inconvenient for the people of this seqtion of 
country to go to South Carolina for their cotton and to 
Louisiana for their sugar, to which inconvenience they 
would be subjected if we had no merchants. 

"But it is confidently argued," said Mr Clay, "that the 
import duty falls upon the grower of cotton; and the case 
has been pat in debate, and again and again, in conversa- 
tion, oi the South Carolina planter, who exports one hun- 
dred bale . ui cotton to Liverpool, exchanges them for 
one hundred bales of merchandise; and, when he brings 
them home, being compelled to leave, at the custom-house, 
forty bales in the form of duties. The argument is found- 
ed on the assumption that a duty of forty per cent., 
amounts to a subtraction of forty from the^ one hundred 
bales of merchandise. The first objection to it, is, that 
it supposes a case of barter which never occurs. If it is 
replied that it, nevertheless, occurs in the operations of 
commerce, the answer would be, that since the export of 
Carolina cotton is chiefly made by New York or foreign 
merchants, the loss stated, if it really existed, wouid fall 
upon them and not upon the planter. But, to test the 
correctness of the hypothetical case, let us suppose that 
the duty, instead of forty percent., should be one hundred 
and fifty, which is asserted to be the duty in some cases; 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 129 

the planter would not only lose the whole hundred 
bales of merchandize which he had received for his hun- 
dred bales of cotton, but he would have to pure , 
other means an additional fifty bales, in order to enable him 
to pay the duties accruing on the proceeds of cotton. A Ti- 
er is, that, if the producer of cotton in America 
.inst English fabrics pays the duty, the pro- 
- of those fabrics pays it also, and thus it is twice paid, 
. be the consequence, unless the principle is true 
on one side of the Atlantic and false on the other. The 
true \ that the exporter of the article, if he in 

its proceeds in a foreign market, takes care to make the in- 
ient in such merchandize as, when brought home, he 
can sell with a i 

"The next objection to the Ameri - 
n is, that it subjects South Carolina to the pa] 

>ro portion of the public revenue. 
On this subject, I hold in my hands a statement 

: mine, of great accuracy, and a no 
?. According to this statement, in a crop of ten 
3S may fluctuate between two 
hundred dollars and three thousand two hun- 
dollars. Of this sum, about one-fourth, from seven to 
.aid out in articles ; 
irsed for \ 
oxen, wages of overseer, Stc. Estimating 
h Carolina at eight millions, c . tvvo 

died 
ill one-fourth is 
and si todred and sixty-six and 

:ng the protecting c 
ut , and i. into the pi 

Carolina wouU 
'-three thousand, thre 3 
thirty 

the portion of South Can 

, OD3 

million. Qf course, on this view of the subject, 
ally pays only one-third of her fair and Iegitima 
I 



1 30 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

The foregoing shows how unfounded were and still ar£ 
the complaints of South Carolina against the tariff. Those 
who complain most frequently have the least cause; but S. 
Carolina had no cause whatever of complaint. 

"An abandonment of the American system, it is urged, 
would lead to an addition to our exports of one hundred 
and fifty millions of dollars. The amount of one hundred 
and fifty millions of cotton in the raw state, would produce 
four hundred and fifty millions in the manufactured state, 
supposing no greater value to be communicated, in the man- 
ufactured form, than that which our industry imparts. Nov;. 
sir, where would markets be found for this vast addition to 
the supply? Not in the United States, certainly, nor in any 
other quarter of the globe; England having already every 
-tfhere pressed her cotton manufactures to the utmost point 
of repletion. We must look out for new worlds; seek for 
new and unknown races of mortals to consume this immense 
increase of cotton fabrics." 

[Gen. Hayne said that he did not mean that the increase 
of one hundred and fifty millions to the amount of our ex- 
ports would be of cotton alone, but of other articles.] 

"What other articles? Agricultural produce, bread stuff?, 
beef, pork, &c? Where shall we find markets for them? 
Whither shall we go? To what country, whose ports are not 
hermetically sealed against their admission? Break down 
the home market, and you are without resource. Destroy 
all other interests in the country, for the imaginary purpose 
of advancing the cotton planting interest, and you inflict a 
positive injury, without the smallest practical benefit to the 
cotton planter. Could Charleston, or the whole south, when 
all other markets are prostrated, or shut against the recep- 
tion of the supplies of cur farmers, receive that surplus? 
Would they buy more than they might want for their own 
consumption? Could they find markets which other parts 
of the Union cculd net? 

"I regret, Mr. President, that one topic has, I think, un- 
necessarily been introduced in this debate. 1 allude to the 
charge brought against the manufacturing system, as favour- 
ing the growth of aristocracy. The joint stock companies 
o^ the north, as I understand them, are nothing more than 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM; 131 

associations, sometimes of hundreds, by which the hard 
earnings of many are brought into a common stock, and the 
associates, obtaining corporate privileges, are enabled to 
prosecute, under one superintending head, their business to 
better advantage. Nothing can be more essentially demo- 
cratic, or better devised to counterpoise the influence of in- 
dividual wealth. In Kentucky, almost every manufactory 
known to me is in the hands of enterprising and self-made 
men, who have acquired whatever wealth they possess by 
patient and diligent labour. Comparisons are odious, and, 
but in defence, would not be made by me. But is there 
more tendency to aristocracy in a manufactory, supporting 
hundreds of freemen, or in a cotton plantation, with its not 
less numerous slaves, sustaining, perhaps, only two white 
families — that of the master and the overseer?" 

There would be as much propriety in saying that two or 
three individuals, uniting their means and transacting busi- 
ness in partnership, constitute an aristocracy, as to say that 
a larger number, incorporated for the establishment of cotton, 
woollen, iron or any other manufactories, constitutes an aris- 
tocracy. Corporations enable the poor to compete with the 
rich. Under aristocratic forms of government, there are 
comparatively few incorporated companies, and they are 
generally so organized as to exclude men of small fortunes 
from having an interest in them. Happily for us, the case 
is, yet, very different in the United States. Men of small cap- 
ital can, by uniting their means, establish manufactories 
which one, two, or even half-a-dozen of them could not do, 
and but for which all extensive manufactories would be own- 
ed by a few ivealihy individuals. Every regular form of 
government may be justly compared to an incorporated com- 
pany. It is, in fact, a national corporation, and all within its 
bounds are subordinates. Our government is incorporated 
upon democratic principles, and has a president and a board 
of directors. The corporation is intended to live forever; 
but the president and board of managers are elected at stated 
periods, with some exceptions, which are principally confined 
to the judicial board of directors. All our subordinate cor- 
porations, so tar as the knowledge of the writer extends, are 
upon democratic principles; exceot those of a secret charac- 
12 



1 32 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

fer, which are nondescript. The writer, though a'MASON> 
is opposed to granting corporate privileges to any secret so- 
cieties, because it cannot increase their power or inclination 
to do good. Let us alone, is all that secret societies should 
Kind. 

u l pass, with pleasure'," said Mr. Clay, "from this disagree- 
able topic, to two general propositions which cover the en- 
fire ground of debate. The first is that, under the operation 
of the American system, the objects which it protects and 
brought to the consumer at cheaper prices than 
he; con n aided prior to its introduction, or than they would 
comrnan I if it did not exist, if that be true, ought not the 
country to be contented and satisfied with the system, unless 
the second proposition, which I mean presently also to con- 
sider, is unfounded? And that is, that the tendency of the 
system is to sustain, and that it has upheld, the prices of all 
our agricultural and other produce, including cotton. 

"Arid is the fact not indisputable, that all essential objects 
of consumption, affected by the tariff, are cheaper and bet- 
ter, since the act of 1824, than they were for several years 
prior to that law? I appeal, for its truth, to common obser- 
vation and to all practical men. 1 appeal to the farmer of 
the country, whether he does not purchase, on better terms, 
on, salt, brown sugar, cotton goods, and woollens, for 
ibourrhg people? And 1 ask the cotton planter if he 
hes not been better and more cheaply supplied with his cot- 
hugging? 

* * CC I plant myself upon this fact, of 
cheapness and superiority, as upon impregnable ground. — 
Gentlemen may tax their ingenuity and produce a thou- 
sand speculative solutions of the fact, but the fact itself 
will remain undisturbed. The total consumption of bar- 
iron in the U. States, is supposed to be about one hundred 
and forty-six thousand tons, of which 112,866 are made 
:n the coanry, and the residue imported. The number 
of -men engaged in the manufacture is estimated at 29,254, 
and the total number subsisted by it, at one hundred and 
forty-?ix thousand, two hundred and seventy-three. * 

* The price of bar-iron in the northern ci- 
ties was in 1823, one hundred and five dollars per ton; in 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 1 39 

1829, one hundred dollars; in 1830, ninety dollars, and in 
1831, from eighty-five to seventy-live dollars — constantly 
diminishing. 

"The tailor will ask protection for 
himself, but wishes it denied to the grower of wool and 
the manufacturer of broad-cloth. The cotton planter en- 
joys protection for the raw material, but does not de^ 
to be extended to the cotton manufacturer. The ship- 
builder will ask protection for navigation, but does noi 
want it extended to the essential articles whic*h enter into 
the construction of his ship. Each, in his proper vocation, 
solicits protection, but would have it denied to ail other 
interests which are supposed to come into collision 
his. Now, the duty of the statesman is to elevate himself 
above these petty conflicts*, calmly to survey all the various 
interests, and deliberately to proportion the measure of 
protection to each, according to its nature, and the general 
wants of society. # * * 

"The success of our manufacture of coarse cottons is 
generally admitted. It is demonstrated by the fact thac 
they meet the cotton fabrics of other countries, in foreign 
markets and maintain a sucessful competition with them, 
There has been a gradual increase of the exports of this 
article, which is sent to Mexico and the South American 
republics, to the Mediterranean, and even to Asia. The 
remarkable fact was lately communicated to me, that the 
same individual who, twenty-five years ago, was engaged 
in the importation of cotton cloth from Asia, for American 
consumption, is now engaged in the exportation of coarse 
American cottons to Asia for Asiatic consumption? And 
my honorable friend from Massachusetts, now in my eye. 
(Mr. Silsbee), informed me that, on his departure from 
home, among the last orders which he gave, one was for 
the exportation of coarse cotton to Sumatria, in the vicin- 
ity of Calcutta. I hold in my hand a statement, derived 
from the most authentic source, showing that the identical 
description of cotton cloth, which sold, in 1817 at twenty- 
nine cents per yard, was sold in 1S19 at twenty-one cents; 
in 1821, at nineteen and a half cents, in 1823, at seven- 
teen cents; in 1825, at fourteen and a half cents; in 1827, 



i 34 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

at thirteen cents; in 1829, at nine cents; in 1330, at nine 
and a half cents; and in 1881, at from ten and a half to 
eleven cents. Such is the wonderful effect of protection, 
competition, and improvement in skill, combined. The 
year 1829 was one of some embarrassment to this branch 
of industry, probably owing to the principle of competi- 
tion being pushed too far; hence we discover a small rise 
in the article the next two years. The introduction of 
calico printing into the United States continues an impor- 
tant era in our manufacturing industry. It commenced 
about the year 1825, and has since made such astonishing 
advances, that the whole quantity now annually printed is 
but little short of forty millions of yards — about two-thirds 
of our whole consumption. It is a beautiful manufacture, 
combining great mechanical skill with scientific discoveries 
in chemistry. * * Are the fine graceful forms of our 
fair country women less lovely when enveloped in the 
chintses and calicoes produced by native industry, than 
when clothed in the tinsel of foreign drapery?" 

It has been frequently asserted by the opponents of pro- 
tection that, if our manufactured fabrics can compete lit 
foreign markets with foreign fabrics, and if our manufac- 
turers can afford to export their articles to foreign climes, 
they do not require or deserve protection; and that the 
system ought to be abolished. Wilh just as much or 
as little reason it might be said that as cultivation has 
rendered the earth productive, further cultivation is un- 
necessary and ought to be abolished. Protection afforded 
to our manufacturers, by creating competition and inviting 
and encouraging industry, will render them productive, ex- 
actly as cultivating the soil renders it fruitful. Abandon 
both, and our manufactories will dwindle and our land 
cease to be prolific — the price of manufactured articles 
would rise, and hunger and famine spread throughout our 
land. The use of means are not more essential to render 
the earth productive, than the use of means are to render 
our manufactories beneficial, by furnishing employment to 
thousands of men, women and children, and thereby pro- 
ducing necessary articles, which we would otherwise have 
to purchase from foreign nations. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 135 

The late tariff subjects imported wheat to a duty of twen- 
ty-five cents per bushel, barley, twenty cents, rye fifteen 
cents, oats ten cents, Indian corn ten cents; wheat flour 
seventy cents per hundred and twelve pounds; Indian meal 
twenty cents per hundred and twelve pounds; potatoes ten 
cents per bushel^ beef and pork two cents per pound; hams 
and bacon three cents per pound; cheese nine cents per 
pound; butter five cents and lard three cents per pound. — 
A duty also on fish, &c. On unmanufactured wool, valued 
at seven cents per pound or under a duty, of five per cent, 
ad valorem; all other unmanufactured wool a duty of three 
cents per pound and thirty per cent., ad valorem. On all 
woollen fabrics, corresponding duties are laid: extending 
to forty per cent, on some articles. On carpeting, from 
thirty to sixty-five cents per square yard. On ready-made 
clothing for men, women and children, including boots, 
shoes and hats, a duty of from forty to fifty per cent. On 
raw cotton three cents per pound. On cotton fabrics thirty 
per cent., with some exceptions. On thread, from twenty- 
five to thirty per cent. On manufactures of silk, (except 
bolting cloths), two dollars and fifty cents per pound. Silk 
thread from one and a half to two dollars per pound. Floss 
and other similar silks, twenty-five per cent; raw silk, fifty 
cents per pound. On unmanufactured hemp forty dollars; 
and flax, twenty dollars per ton. On oil cloth, from ten to 
thirty-five cents per square yard; graduated by quality. On 
bar and wrought iron seventeen dollars per ton; or, if rolled, 
twenty-five dollars per ton; pig iron nine dollars per ton; 
vessels of cast-iron, from one to ten and a half cents per 
pound. Iron, cast, hammered, or rolled, and manufactured 
into hinges, chains, tools, pipes, Sic, from two and a half 
to five cents per pound. Iron or steel wire, from five to 
eleven cents per pound. Silver or plated wire, thirty per 
cent. Brass or copper wire, twenty-five per cent. Bonnet 
wire, from eight to twelve cents per pound. On mill, pit 
and cross-cut saws one dollar each. On muskets, one dol- 
lar and a half; rifles, two and a half dollars each ; on all 
edged tools, such as axes, chisels, &,c, and on scaie-beamB, 
shovels, &.c, thirty per cent.; on steel, in bars, from one 
fifty to two dollars and fifty cents per hundred and twelve 



136 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

pounds; lead, in pigs and bars, three cents per pound; in 
other manufactured forms, additional duties; tin, in pigs, 
blocks or bars, one percent.; in plates &c, two and a half 
per cent.; silver-plated metal, bell metal &c, thirty per 
cent.; coal, one dollar and three quarters per ton; on ves- 
sels of cut glass, from twenty-live to forty-five cents per 
pound; plain glass, from ten to fourteen cents per pound; 
window glass, from two to ten cents per square foot; alt 
other glass subjected to corresponding duties; sole or bend 
leather six cents per pound; upper leather eight cents per 
pound; calf and seal skins, tanned and dressed, five dollars 
per dozen; other skins, tanned and dressed, or otherwise, 
in proportion; leather gloves, from fifty cents to one dollar 
and fifty cents per dozen; furs, on the skin, unraised, five 
per cent.; dressed, twenty-five per cent.; fur hats, caps &c ? 
from twenty-five to thirty-five per cent.; wool hats, eighteen 
cents each; on brown sugar, two and a half cents per pound: 
advanced beyond that state, from four to six cents per 
pound; salt, eight cents per bushel; brandy, one dollar per 
gallon; other spirits, from sixty to ninety cents per gallon; 
wine, in casks, from thirty-five to sixty cents per gallon for 
first and second quality; from fifteen to twenty-five cents 
per gallon for third quality, -and from six to twelve cents 
for the lowest quality — if bottled, a higher duty; ale, por- 
ter and beer, fifteen to twenty cents per gallon; leaf-tobacco, 
twenty per cent.; snuff, twelve cents per pound; manufac- 
tured tobacco, other than snuff and cigars, ten cents per 
pound; &c, Sec. Tea, coffee, coins and various other 
articles are admitted free of duty; the present tariff differs 
but a shade from that of 1832. 

*■ * "Brown sugar, from 1792 to 1802, with a 
duty of one and a half cents vper pound, sold at fourteen. 
The same article, during ten years, from 1820 to 1830, 
with a duty of three cents, has averaged only eight cents 
per pound; nails, with a duty of five cents per pound, are 
selling at six cents; window glass, eight by ten, prior to 
the tariff of 1SQ4, sold at twelve or thirteen dollars per 
hundred feet; it now sells for three dollars and seventy-five 
cents. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 1 37 

"This brings me to consider, what I apprehended to hav e 
been, the most efficient of all the causes in the reduction 
of the prices of manufactured articles — and that is com- 
petition. By competition, the total amount of the sup- 
ply is increased, and by increasing the supply, a competi- 
tion in the sale ensues, and this enables the consumer to 
buy at lower rates. Of all human powers operating on 
the affairs of mankind, none is greater than that of com- 
petition. It is action and re-action. It operates between 
individuals in the same nation, and between different na- 
tions. It resembles the meeting of the mountain torrent, 
grooving, by its precipitous motion, its own channel, and 
ocean's tide. Unopposed it sweeps every thing before it, 
but, counterpoised, the waters become calm, safe and reg- 
ular. It is like the segments of a circle or an arch, taken 
separately, each is nothing; but, in their combination, they 
produce efficiency, symmetry and perfection. 55 * * 

The beauty in the foregoing, is almost lost sight of in 
the force of the argument. Mr. Clay, after stating the 
effect the tariff had in reducing the price of other protect- 
ed articles, states the duties imposed upon some of our 
exports by Great Britain: 

"The duties, 53 said Mr. Clay, "in the ports of the United 
Kingdom, of bread-stuffs, are prohibitory, except in times 
of dearth. On rice the duty is fifteen shillings sterling per 
hundred weight,* being more than one hundred per cent, 
on manufactured tobacco, it is nine shillings sterling per 
pound, about two thousand per cent.; on leaf tobacco, 
three shillings per pound, or one thousand two hundred 
per cent.; on lumber and some other articles, they are 
from four hundred to fifteen hundred per cent, more than 
on similar articles imported from British colonies; on beef, 
pork, hams and bacon, the duty is twelve shillings sterling 
per hundred pounds, more than one hundred per cent. 55 

Mr. Clay gives an account of the bread-stuffs and other 
provisions furnished the eastern manufacturers from the 
agricultural states in 1831: 

"The quantity of flour imported into Boston, was two 
hundred and eighty-four thousand, five hundred and four 
barrels, and three thousand, nine hundred and niaety-fiss 



138 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

half-barrels; of Indian corn, six hundred and eighty-one 
thousand, one hundred and thirty-one bushels; of oats, 
two hundred and thirty-nine thousand, eight hundred and 
nine bushels; of shorts, thirty -three thousand, four hundred 
and eighty bushels; and of rye, about fifty thousand bush- 
els. Into the port of Providence, seventy-one thousand, 
three hundred and sixty-nine barrels of flour; two hundred 
and sixteen thousand, two hundred and sixty-two bushels 
of Indian corn, and seven thousand, seven hundred and 
seventy-two bushels of rye. And there were discharged 
at the ports of Philadelphia, four hundred and twenty thou- 
sand, three hundred and fifty. three bushels of Indian corn; 
two hundred and one thousand, eight hundred and seventy- 
eight bushels of wheat; and one hundred and ten thousand, 
five hundred and fifty bushels of rye and barley. There 
were slaughtered in Boston the same year, 1831, (the only 
northern city from which I have received returns) thirty- 
three thousand, nine hundred and twenty-two beef cattle; 
fifteen thousand, four hundred store cattle; eighty-four 
thousand, four hundred sheep; twenty-six thousand, eight 
hundred and seventy-one swine. It is confidently believ- 
od that there is not a less quantity of southern flour con- 
sumed at the north than eight hundred thousand barrels — 
a greater amount, probably, than is shipped to all the world 
together. 53 

In this chapter the writer has acted more the part of a 
compiler, than an author. He cannot be justly charged of 
withholding the arguments of the opponents of a protective 
tariff, having quoted all the strongest arguments against it 
within his reach, and only one author in its support on the 
American side. Suppose a duty of three cents laid upon 
a pound of coffee and a proportionate duty upon a pound 
of tea: would there not be as much or as little sense in 
saying, that the producers of both articles could make us, 
the consumers, pay a dollar a pound for coffee and five 
dollars for tea, as to make us pay the duty? The question 
is now put to the sense and honest, unbiased judgment of 
the reader: why do not the producers of those articles make 
us, the consumers, pay one dollar a pound for coffee and 
fire or ten dollars a pound for tea? The answer, which is 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 133 

important in the investigation of the principle involved, is 
easily given to the satisfaction of every man whose mind 
is unfettered by party, and who wishes to understand princi- 
ples as they really exist. The correct answer is this: — the 
price of every article is governed by supply, demand and 
the ability to pay for it. We might readily suppose that 
by a general failure for successive years of the crops of 
coffee, or from our being involved in a protracted maritime 
war, with a powerful nation, that the supply might fall so 
far below the demand as to raise them to the prices suppos- 
ed. During the late war, co<Tee retailed in Hagerstown at 
thirty-seven and a half cents, and tea at two dollars and 
fifty cent3 per pound*, and if the war had continued two 
years longer, the prices would have, probably, been doubled. 

It has been frequently asserted that the manufactories of 
England are the cause of the low wages and distress of 
the labouring class. The truth or fallacy of the declara- 
tion can be established beyond question or doubt. The 
population of Great Britain, at the last enumeration, was 
two hundred and sixty to the square mile. Taking into 
consideration the quantity of sterile and uncultivated land, 
the population to each square mile of arable land must 
exceed three hundred. If, then, the factories and work- 
shops were closed, thousands, yea, millions, (including 
children,) could not obtain labour even if they would work 
for nothing'; and government would have to adopt imme- 
diate means for their subsistence until they could be trans- 
ported to foreign shores where they could obtain labour, 
or they would perish from famine or fall by the sword in 
attempting to obtain subsistence by force, which they could 
not obtain by labour. 

Never, it is believed, since the foundation of our govern- 
ment was there a greater redundance of grain, meat and all 
vegetable productions throughout our wide-spread country 
than at the|present period; provisions of all kinds are com- 
paratively low and prices are declining; and yet thousands 
of mechanics and labouring men cannot obtain employment, 
and consequently cannot supply themselves with provisions 
sufficient for their comfortable support. If our manufacto- 
ries were properly protected, all classes of our citizens could 



im POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

obtain employment, and the probability is that flour would 
range from five to six dollars per barrel, all other articles of 
provisions in the* -same proportion, and mechanics would re- 
ceive fair prices and have a ready sale for their manufactur- 
ed articles. At present, provisions are low, but hard to com- 
mand by the mechanics and labouring men, because of the 
want of employment. The question is put to the unbiased 
understanding of the whole people, whether a protecting 
tariff would not promote the general good of all. 

The writer believes that he would be as little affected in 
a pecuniary point of view by the measures of government, 
or the triumph of one party and the downfall of another, 
as any man in the nation. He has but a short time to live 
and few days to provide for, he has ceased to be ambitious 
beyond what is necessary for the comfortable support of him- 
self and family, and to possess and deserve the confidence 
of those with whom lie is acquainted; but he feels deeply 
interested for the general good and public welfare, and for 
the happiness and prosperity of the whole people, lie con- 
tends for such measures and principles, only, as will produce 
the greatest amount of happiness and prosperity, without re- 
gard to party. 

It has been asked, why are not house-carpenters protect- 
ed by a tariff? As yet, dwellings, mills, barns, &c , built in 
Europe, have not been shipped to the United States, and it 
has been thought not necessary to lay a tariff upon imported 
houses; but, by a 'discriminating tariff, the house* carpenter 
is benefitted, being a recipient of the benefits arising from 
the general prosperity of the country. It has been said that 
the number of journeymen and apprentices employed in 
cotton and woollen factories constitutes an aristocracy. If 
the assertion is true, it is also true that an equal number of 
journeymen employed in cordwainers' shops, cabinet-makers 1 
shops, ship-yards, tanneries, &c, also makes an aristocracy. 
Is it more aristocratic to take wool in the fleece, and cotton 
in the bale, and manufacture them into clothing, than it is to 
dig ore out of the mine and pass it on until, in bar-iron, it 
leaves the forge hammer? 

If. the mind can be relieved from* bias and party fetters, 
md the protective system examined from the same motives 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 141 

that a man would figure out an arithmetical question, there 
could be but one opinion as to the general principle and 
effect of the protective systsm. An honest difference in 
opinion would frequently arise as to the amount of duty 
which could be laid without putting any part of it on the 
consumer; also, as to what articles ought to be protected; and 
circumstances would, or might create defects which the 
statesman, as a duty, should correct, without abandoning the 
principle. 

A horse can carry a boy and three bushels of corn to the 
mill, and when the corn is ground, he can carry back the 
boy and meal without inconvenience; but the horse could 
not carry fifty bushels, because th& weight is too great for 
his strength, and he would sink under it. What has the fig- 
ure to do with protective duties? We answer, that, upon tbe 
principle that a horse can carry three bushels of corn 
without inconvenience, but would be crushed by fifty bush- 
els, a pound of coffee would bear a duty cf one or-two cents, 
without throwing the duty on the consumer; but if a tariff 
of fifty cents was laid on a pound of coffee, it would be 
more thai* it could bear. Do not the statesman, farmer and 
mechanic see the application of the figure? Does' not every 
man, whose mind is unfettered, see the propriety, the sense 
and justice of being governed by pie of propor- 

tion to produce an equilibrium and promote the general 
good? The statesman wh assert that if a pound of 

coffee could pay a duty of one or two cents per pound with- 
out throwing it upon the consumer, it would, upon the same 
pie, pay a duty of fifty 'cents without throwing it upon 
the consumer* would not commit a greater absurdity by say- 
ing that if a horse could carry three busheis of corn, he 
could, upon the same principle, carry fifty bushels. The 

ht of three bushels of com would be ielt by the horse, 
le weight of one or two cents upon a pound of coffee 

d be felt by the producer, who, having a surplus, would 
find it more to his interest to pay the duty than not to s- 
but if a duty of fifty cents were laid upon it, he could not 

1 to pay it and sell at the pre The conse- 

quence would be that the tariff would amount to a prohibi- 
tion: or most, though net all of the duty would be paid by 



142 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the consumers; because the article cannot be raised in this 
country. A duty of fifty cents upon a pound of coffee would 
throw from forty-five to forty-eight cents upon the consumer, 
and from two to five cents upon the producer, which is as 
much as the article will bear without imposing a part of the 
duty on the consumer. But if coffee was raised in the Uni- 
ted States as abundantly as corn, a duty of fifty cents upon 
the imported article could never affect the price of it in this 
country. 

The writer will, for the sake of argument, concede that 
a protective tariff laid in the most skilful and judicious 
manner, would be paid, in part, by the consumers. He will 
not admit, even for argument's sake, that all would fall 
on the consumers — that would be an absurdity too great 
to be entertained by any unprejudiced man. He then 
asks whether a system which would afford employment and 
fair wages to thousands of men, women and children, who 
.are now idle, because 4( no man has hired'* them, would 
not produce benefits and blessings to all classes of the 
people? Can any philanthropist or man of observation be- 
hold the number of men, women and children, in cities, 
towns and neighbourhoods, who are idle from necessity, 
not choice, without being impressed by painful sensations: 
Behold the temptations to which they are exposed. The 
human family are not as depraved by nature as they are 
jrequently represented to he — crime and misery generally 
flow from the imperfections in the form or measures of 
government — the morals of the body of the people will be 
in accordance toith the form or measures of government — 
history and observation prove the truth of the sentiments. 
^•Causes produce effects..^ Is it not the duty of 
government to pursue a policy which would enable them 
to obtain labour, rmd stimulate them to industry, ensure to 
them all the necessaries and comforts of life, without de- 
parting from sound morals and correct habits? 

When we contemplate the vast extent of our country, 
the fertility of soil, rich ana abundant agricultural produc- 
tions, inexhaustible mineral resources and great water pow- 
er, it is absolutely certain, that if the general government 
pursued a just policy, the labouring man and industrious 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 143 

woman would be sought for; the loafer would become 
ashamed of idleness, and our whole population might be 
compared to a swarm of bees industriously laying up rich 
stores — vice would diminish in proportion as a constant 
demand for labour and a just compensation to the labourer 
would lessen the motive in which vice is founded. 

The writer is opposed to prohibitory duties as illiberal 
towards foreign nations. But he does say that it would 
be better to prohibit all foreign articles, without an excep- 
tion, than to admit foreign importations free of duty. Pro- 
hibition would deprive us of some articles, most of which 
are luxurious; but it would be productive of substantial 
benefits and blessings, compared with the admissions of 
foreign articles free of duty. If it be asked how a reve- 
nue would be raised to support the government, and whe- 
ther foreign nations would purchase our surplus, if we pro- 
hibited theirs, we answer: if it be true that the consumers 
pay the duty, as is asserted by the opposers of protection, 
then the consumers would be benefitted by prohibition; 
because they would only have to pay an equivalent for the 
duty they now pay, and would be relieved from paying for 
the article which was prohibited. Take a case: a man 
purchases various foreign articles to the amount of forty 
dollars, which paid a duty of ten dollars; prohibit all im- 
portations, and he would only have ten dollars to pay to 
the government and have thirty left to supply himself with 
domestic articles; consequently he could not lose or gain, 
admitting the theory of the consumers paying all the duty, 
which is, however, an absurdity of the highest order. If 
all importations were prohibited, a portion of our popula- 
tion would necessarily be drawn of! from agriculture, suffi- 
ciently so to supply all the manufactured articles; and a 
a home demand and market would be created which would 
leave comparatively a small quantity for exportation; and 
as foreign nations purchase nothing from us which they can 
produce themselves, it is more than probable that we would 
obtain a higher price for our surplus productions than we 
now receive, and that the whole country would be substan- 
tially benefitted. The writer is in favour of discriminating 
and protective duties, and not of duties on tea, coffee and 



144 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ofcheT necessary articles, which are not of the growth, pro* 
dace and manufacture of our country. He distinctly says 
that the government ought to give as decided preference 
to the w.'iole people of the United States over the people 
of every other nation as parents give to their own children 
over the children of their neighbours. The writer pro- 
nounces this the true policy. He will close this chapter 
by quoting from the last annual communication of the il- 
lustrious Jefferson to Congress. A protective tariff was 
one o^ his favourite and leading measures, and was de- 
nounced by its opponents as the 4 «tzrrapin policy:'' 

"The probable accumulation of the surplusses of reven- 
ue beyond what can be applied to the payment of the pub- 
lic debt, whenever the freedom and safety of our commerce 
shall be restored, merits the consideration of Congrc 
Shall it lie in the public vaults? Shall the revenue be re- 
duced? Or, shall it not rather be appropriated to the im- 
provements of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other 
great foundations of prosperity and union, under the pow-. 
crs which Congress may already possess, or such amend- 
ment of the Constitution as may be approved by the state? 
While uncertain of the course of things, the time way bo 
advantageously employed in obtaining the powers necessa- 
ry for a system of improvement, should that be thought 
best.- 5 



CHAPTER VII. 
On Banking Instil 



iave grown up with our political institutions, and 
have been supported by every political. party since the for- 
a of the government. With the erection and man- 
agement of the stale banks, however, (he federal govern- 
ment has nothing to do. The constitutionality of a Na- 
tipnal Bank has been questioned by a large portion of the 






POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 145 

people of the United States; whilst, on the other hand, it has 
been, directly or indirectly, pronounced constitutional by 
most of the fathers of the old republican and federal parties. 
It has, it is believed, been pronounced constitutional by ev- 
ery member of the convention that framed the Constitution. 
so far as their sentiments can be ascertained. The writer 
has not been able to find any evidence that any member of 
the convention pronounced a National Bank unconstitution- 
al, and it has been declared constitutional by a decision of 
the Supreme Court. The question was never submitted to 
the people of the United States unconnected with any other, 
and it is not probable that it ever will. It is natural for every 
politician to believe that a majority of the people think ex- 
actly as he does upon all important questions. If the sen- 
timents of the representatives are regarded as the voice of 
the people, an affirmative or negative vote is entitled to 
equal consideration. 

The writer will go- upon the principle that the represent- 
atives have expressed the sentiments of their constituents 
upon the bank question at every decision in Congress upon 
the subject. If it be said, by the opponents of a Bank, that 
every vote in Congress in favour of a Bank was in opposi- 
tion to the sentiments of a majority of the people, upon the 
same principle, it may be said that a majority of Congress 
always have been and ever will be in opposition to the voice 
of the people upon all subjects. Such a declaration, how- 
ever, could have no weight with an unprejudiced man; but 
arguments would be unavailing with an opponent of a Bank 
who believes that a majority of the people have invariably 
thought exactly as he has upon the subject, and that the de- 
cisions of the representatives of the people and of presidents 
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jackson, sanc- 
tioned by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, in support of the constitutionality of a National Bank, 
are wrong. A National Bank, as we shall prove by the offi- 
cial communications of president Jackson, was one of his 
favourite measures; and we shall prove, also, that he was as 
anxious for the establishment of such an institution as he w~s 
for an amendment of the Constitution so as to make the 
president ineligible for a second term — the evidence in both 
K 



146 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

cases being equally clear and conclusive, and such as cannot 
be shaken without questioning his sincerity. 

The yeas and nays on the final passage of the first Bank 
bill in the Senate of the United States, on Thursday, Janu- 
ary 20th, 1791, were as follows: 

Yeas — Messrs Bassett, Dalton, Dickenson, Ellsworth, El- 
mer, Foster, Gunn. Johnson, Johnston, King, Langdon, Ma- 
clay, Moms, Read, Schuiler, Stanton, Strong, Wingate — 18. 

Nays — Messrs. Butter, Few?, Hawkins, Izard, Monroe — 5. 

Three of the members were absent. Those in italic were 
members of the convention which formed the Constitution. 
Six voted for it, and Gen. Washington, the president of the 
convention, approved the bill; two voted against it. The party 
names at that period were federalists and anti-federalists*, the 
latter soon took the title of republicans, headed by Mr. Jef- 
ferson. 
Extract from the Journal of the House of Representatives, 

February Qth, 1791. 

" Yeas and Nays upon the passage of the bill entitled "An 
act to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United 
States":— 

Yeas — Fisher Ames, Egbert Benson, Elias Boudinot, Ben- 
jamin Bowen, Lambert Cadwallader, George Clymer, Thom- 
as Fitzsimons, William Floyd, Abiel Foster, Elbridge Gerry, 
Nicholas Gilman, Benjamin Goodhue, Thomas Hartley, John 
Hathorn, Daniel Heister, Benjamin Huntington, John Law- 
rence, George Leonard, Samuel Livermore, Peter Muhlen- 
berg, George Partridge, Jeremiah Van Rensselear, James 
Schureman, Thomas Scott, Theodore Sedgwick, Joshua Se- 
ney, John Seiver, Roger Sherman, Peter Silvester, Thomas 
Sinnickson, William Smith of Md., William Smith of S. C, 
John Steele, Jonathan Sturges, George Thatcher, Jonathan 
Trumbull, J. Vining, J. Wadsworth, Henry Wynkoop — 89. 

Nays— John Baptist Ashe, Abraham Baldwin, Timothy 
Bloodworth, John Brown, Edanus Burke, Daniel Carroll, 
Benjamin Contee, George Gale, Jonathan Grout, William 
B. Giles, James Jackson, Richard Bland Lee, James Madi- 
son, jr., George Matthews, Andrew Moore, Josiah Parker, M. 
Jenifer Stone, Thomas Tudor Tucker, Alexander White, 
Hugh Williamson. — 20." 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 147 

Those in italic, five in all, were members of the conven- 
tion which framed the Constitution. The writer cannot po- 
litically designate many of them, and will, therefore, class 
those only of whom he can speak with certainty. Messrs. 
Bassett, Dickenson, Langdon and Monroe, of the Senate, 
were anti-federalists. Mr. Monroe, who voted in the nega- 
tive, afterwards changed his sentiments upon the subject, as 
will be proven in the proper place. In the House of Rep- 
resentatives, Messrs. Gerry, Heister, Giles and Madison were 
anti-federalists; Richard Bland Lee was a federalist from Va., 
and was superseded by Richard Brent, a JefFersonian repub- 
lican, who, after succeeding to the United States Senate, vo- 
ted for rechartering the Bank in 1811. Mr. Brent was one 
of Virginia's favourite sons, and it was believed that he was 
unsurpassed in point of talent by any member of either de- 
partment of Congress. 

The following is a transcript, furnished by a member of 
Congress, from the journals, of the vote on the bill for re- 
chartering the first Bank, in 18 1 1 . As the writer cannot po- 
litically designate many of the members, he will only class 
the Virginia senators, Brent and Giles, who were republicans, 
It will be seen that the Senate was equally divided, and that 
Mr. Clinton, vice-president, decided the question in favour 
of striking out the first section. In the House, the bill was 
indefinitely postponed, by a majority of one. At that period, 
the republicans had a large majority in both Houses. He be- 
lieves the federalists had but ten members in the Senate 
and not more than forty-five in the House. 

"House of Representatives, U. S. > 
January 24, 1811. J 
The House resumed the consideration of the unfinished 
business of yesterday, and the question depending at the 
time of the adjournment, to wit: the indefinite postpone- 
ment of the order of the day on the bill to continue for a 
further time the charter of the Bank of the United States, 
was again stated, and being taken, it was resolved in the 
affirmative. Yeas, 65. Nays 64. 

Teas— Lemuel J. Alston, Wm. Anderson, Ezekiai Bacon, 
David Bard, Wm. T. Barry, Burwell Bassett, William W. 
Bibb, Adam Boyd, Robt. Brown, Wm, Butler, Joseph Cal- 
K2 



1*3 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

houn, Langdon Cheves, Mathew Clay, James Cochran, Win, 
Crawford, Richard Cutts, John Dawson, Joseph Desha, 
John W. Eppes, Meshack Franklin, Barzillai Gannett, Gid- 
eon Gardner, Thomas Gholson, Peterson Goodwyn, Edwin 
Gray, James Holland, Richard M. Johnson, Walter Jones, 
Thomas Kenan, Wm. Kennedy, Joh.i Love, Aaron Lyle, 
Nathaniel Macon, Alexander IVPKim, Wm. McKin ley, Sam- 
uel L. Mitchell, John Montgomery, Nicholas R. Moore, 
Thomas Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, Gurdon S. Mumford, 
Thomas ^wton, John Porter, Peter B. Porter, John Rea, 
of Penc, John Rea, of Tenn., Matthias Richards, Samuel 
Ringgo d, J3hn Roane, Ebenezer Sage, Lemuel Sawyer, 
Ebenezer S< aver, Adam Seybert, John Smilie, Geo. Smith, 
Samuel Smith, Henry Southard, George M. Troup, Charles 
Turner, jr., Archibald Van Horn, Robert Weakley, Robert 
Whitehill, Richard Winn, Robert Witherspoon, Robert 
W T right.— 65. 

JYays — Joseph Allen, Willis Alston, jr., Abijah Bigelow 5 
Daniel Blaisdell, James Breckenridge, John Campbell, 
John C. Chamberlain, Wm. Chamberlain, Epaphraditus 
Champion, Martin Chittenden, John Davenport, jr., Wm. 
Ely, James Emott, Wm. Findley, Jonathan Fisk, Barent 
Gardenier, David S. Garland, Charles Goldsborough, Thos, 
R, Gold, Wm. Hale, Nathaniel A. Haven, Daniel Heister, 
Wm. Holmes, Jona. H. Hubbard, Jacob Hufty, Ebenezer 
Huntington, Richard Jackson, jr., Robert Jenkins, Philip 
B Key, Herman Knickerbacker, Joseph Lewis, jr. Robert 
Le Roy Livingston, Vincent Mathews, Archibald McBryde, 
Samuel McKee, Pleasant M. Miller, Wm. Milnor, Jona. O. 
Moseley, Thos. Newbold, John Nicholson, Joseph Pear- 
son, Benj. Pickman, jr., Timothy Pitkin, jr., ElishaR. Pot- 
ter, Joshua Qui ncy, John Randolph, Thomas Sammons, J. 
A. Scudcier, Samuel Shaw, Daniel ShefFey, Dennis Smelt, 
John Smith, Richard Stanford, John Stanley, James Ste- 
phenson,* Lewis B. Sturgis, Jacob Swoope, Samuel Taggert, 
Benj. Tallmadge, John Thompson, Nicholas Van Dyke, 
K. K. Van Rensseiear, Laban Wheaton, Jas. Wilson. — 64. 
In the Senate of the U. S., > 
February 20, 1811. } 

Agreeably to the order of the day the Senate resumed. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 140 

as in committee of the whole, the bill to amend and con- 
tinue in force an act entitled l 'An Act to incorporate the 
subscribers to the Bank of the United States, passed on the 
25th day of February, 1 79 1"; and, on the question to strike 
out the first section of the bill, as follows: u Be it enacted 
by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America, in Congress assembled, that the act en- 
titled 'An Act to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank 
of the United States, passed the 25th of Feb., 1791,' be 
and the same is hereby continued in force until the 4th 
day of March, in the year of our Lord 1831, subject to the 
conditions and restrictions hereinafter specified,"' it was 
determined in the affirmative. Yeas 17. Nays 17. 

Yeas — Messrs. Anderson, Campbell, Clay, Cutts, Frank- 
lin, Gaillard, German, Giles, Gregg, Lambert, Leib, Ma- 
thewson, Reed, Robinson, Smith, of Md., Whiteside and 
Worthington. 

Nays— Messrs. Bayard, Bradley, Brent, Champlin, Con- 
dit, Crawford, Dana, Giiman, Goodrich, Horsey, Lloyd, 
Pickering, Pope, Smith, of N. Y., Tait, Taylor and Turner. 

The Senate being equally divided, the President deter- 
mined the question in the affirmative." 

The following is the vote for the chartering of the sec- 
ond National Bank: — 

^From the National Intelligencer of August 8, 1840. 

The question on the final passage of the Bank bill in the 
House of Representatives [in 1816] was determined in the 
affirmative, by yeas 51, nays 71-, as follows: 

Yeas — Messrs. Adgate, Alexander, Atherton, Baer, Betts, 
Boss, Bradbury, Brown, Calhoun, Cannon, Champion, Chap- 
pell, Clark, of N. C, Clark, of Ky., Clendenin, Comstock, 
Condict, Conner, Creighton, Crocheron, Cuthbert, Edwards, 
Forney, Forsyth, Gholson, Griffin, Grosvenor, Hawes, Hen- 
derson, Huger, Hulbert, Hungerford, Ingham, Irving, Jack- 
son, Jewett, Kerr, King, Love, Lowndes, Lumpkin, Maclay, 
Mason, McCoy, McKee, Middleton, Moore, Moseley, Mur- 
free, Nelson, Parris, Pickens, Pinkney, Piper, Robertson, 
Sharpe, Smith, of Md., Smith, of Va., Southard, Taul, Tay- 
lor, of N. Y., Taylor, of S. C, Telfair, Thomas, Throop, 
Townsend, Tucker, Ward, Wendover, Wheaton, Wilde- 



150 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Wilkin, Williams, Willoughby, Thomas Wilson, of Penn. ; 
William Wilson, of Penn., Woodward, Wright, Yanceyl 
Yates— 81. 

JYays — Messrs. Baker, Barbour, Bassett, Bennett, Bird- 
sail, Blount, Breckenridge, Burnside, Burwell, Cady, Cald- 
well, Cilley, Clayton, Clopton, Cooper, Crawford, Culpep- 
er, Darlington, Davenport, Desha, Gaston, Gold, Golds- 
borough, Goodwin, Hahn, Hale, Hall, Hanson, Hardin, Her- 
bert, Hopkinson, Johnson, Kent, LaHgdon, Law, Lewis, 
Lovett, Lyle, Lyon, Marsh, Mayrant, McLean, of Ky., Mc- 
Lean, of Ohio, Milnor, Newton, Noyes, Ormsby, Picker- 
ing, Pitkin, Randolph, Reed, Root, Ross, Ruggles, Savage. 
Sergeant, Sheffey, Smith, Stanford, Stearns, Strong, Sturges, 
Taggart, Tallmadge, Vose, Wallace, Ward, of Mass., Ward, 
of N. Y., Webster, Whiteside, Wilcox— -71. 

Classed politically, according to the designations of party 
at that day, of the Republican Members sixty-seven voted 
in favor of the bill, and of the Federal Members thirteen; 
and of those who voted against the bill, about one-half 
were Republicans and one-haif Federalists. Two-thirds 
of the Republicans, therefore, voted for the bill, and more 
than two-thirds of the Federalists against it. 

When the bill came to the Senate, it was debated, amen- 
ded, and finally passed by the following vote : 

Yeas — Messrs. Barbour, Barry, Brown, Campbell, Chase, 
Condit, Daggett, Fromentin, Harper, Horsey, Howell, Hun- 
ter, Lacock, Mason, of Va., Morrow, Roberts, Talbot, Tait, 
Taylor, Turner, Varnum, Williams — 22. \ 

JVaijs — Messrs. Dana, Gaillard, Goldsborough, Gore, 
King, Macon, Mason, of N. H., Ruggles, Saniord, Tichenor, 
Wells, Wilson— 12. 

Of the Yeas, on this vote, seventeen were Republicans 
and five Federalists, and of the Nays, five were Republi- 
cans and seven Federalists. 

So that two-thirds of all the Republican Members of 
Congress assisted to pass the Bank Charter, and two-thirds 
of the Federalists did their best to prevent its passage." 

The writer next adds the vote taken in the Senate, 1.1th 
June, 1832, on the bill extending the charter of the second 
bank; which bill was vetoed by president Jackson: 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 151 

Yeas — Messrs. Bell, Buckner, Chambers, Clay, Clayton, 
Dallas, Ewing, Foot, Frelinghuysen, Hendricks, Holmes, 
Johnston, Naudain, Poindexter, Prentiss, Robbins, Robin- 
son, Ruggles, Seymour, Silsebee, Smith, Sprague, Tipton, 
Tomlinson, Waggamon, Webster, Wilkins — 28. 

Nays— Benton, Bibb, Brown, Dickerson, Dudley, Ellis, 
Forsyth, Grundy, Hayne, Hill^ Kane, King, Mangum, Mar- 
cy, Miller, Moore, Tazewell, Troup, Tyler, White— 20. 

In the House, July 3rd :— 

Feas— Messrs. Adams, Chilton Allan, H. Allen, Allison, 
Appleton, Armstrong, Arnold, Ashley, Babcock, Banks, 
Barber, Barringer, Barstow, Isaac C. Bates, Boon, Brigga, 
Bucher, Bullard, Burd, Burges, Choate, Collier, Lewis 
Condict, Silas Condect, Eleutheros Cooke, Bates Cooke, 
Cooper, Corwin, Coulter, Craig, Crane, Crawford, Creigh- 
ton, Daniel, John Davis, Dearborn, Denney, Dewart, Dod- 
ridge, Drayton, Ellsworth, J. Evans, Edward Everett, Hor- 
ace Everett, G. Evans, Ford, Gilmore, Grennell, Hodges, 
Heister, Horn, Hughes, Huntington, Ihrie, Ingersoll, Irwin, 
Isacks, Jenifer, Kendall, Henry King, Kerr, Letcher, Mann, 
Marshall, Maxwell, R. McCoy, McDuffie, McKennan, Mer- 
cer, Milligan, Newton, Pearce, Pendleton, Pitcher, Potts, 
Randolph, John Reed, Root, Russell, Semmes, William B. 
Shepard, A. G. Shepperd, Slade, Smith, Southard, Spence 5 
Stanberry, Stephens, Stewart, Storrs, Southerland, Taylor, 
Philemon Thomas, Tompkins, Tracy, Vance, Verplank, 
Vinton, Watmough, Wilkin, E. Whittlesey, F. Whittlesey, 
E. D. White, Wickliffe, Williams, Young.— 107. 

Nays — Messrs. Adair, Alexander, Anderson, Archer, 
Barnwell, J. Bates, Beardsley, Bell, Bergen, Bethune, J. 
Blair, John Blair, Bouck, Bouldin, Branch, J. C* Broadhead, 
Camberleng, Carr, Chandler, Chinn, Claiborne, Clay, Clay- 
ton, Conner, Davenport, Dayan, Doubleday, Felder, Fitz- 
gerald, Foster, Gaither, Gordon, Griffen, T. H. Hall, W. 
Hall, Hammons, Harper, Hawes, Hawkins, Hoffman, Hogan, 
Holland, Howard, Hubbard, Jarvis C. Johnson, Kavanaugh, 
Kendall, Kennon, A. King, J. King, Lamar, Lansing, Lea- 
vitt, Leeompte, Lewis, Lyon, Mardis, Mason, McCarty, 
Mclntyre, McKay, Mitchell, Newman, Nuckols, Patton, 
Piersonj Plumrner, Polk, E..C. Reed, Rencher, Roane, 



152 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Soule, Speight, Standifer, F. Thomas, W. Thompson, Ward,. 
Ward well, Wayne, Weeks, Wheeler, Camp P. White, Wild. 
Worthington.— 85 

The writer will be excused for not designating the par- 
ties as Federalists and Republicans, as no such parties were 
in existence at that time. The distinctive party names at 
that period were Jacksonians or the Jackson party, and 
the National Republican party or Ante Jackson. The 
democratic and whig parties Were not organized for seve- 
ral years afterwards; The truth of the foregoing will not 
be questioned by any man whose recollection of party 
names will carry him back to that period, and when mem- 
ory is deficient, a reference to the files of party papers of 
that period will settle the question.. 

As the writer never belonged to the federal party, he 
cannot be expected to attempt to eulogise the federalists; 
but he has no desire to do them injustice. During the 
Revolution, Washington was the Samson in the field and 
Jefferson the Solomon in council. After the patriots, by 
their united valor in the field, and wise measures in the 
Legislative Halls, wrested the colonies from Great Britain, 
and proceded to form a constitution and organize an in- 
dependent government, free discussion developed different 
views, which gave rise to political names. Those who 
took the name of federalists, were as true game cocks and 
patriots throughout the days that tried men's souls, as those 
who chose the names of republicans. After the republi- 
cans turned the federalists out of office, it. is but justice to 
say, that with few exceptions, they carried out all the lead- 
ing measures of the federal party. But it is due to the 
republicans to say that they considered the federalists as 
premature in some of their measures, and, moreover, that 
they did not consider them as competent to manage the 
affairs of the nation as they, the republicans, were. 

During the late war, the political struggle between the 
republicans and federalists was increased in violence. — 
The latter were opposed to the declaration of war which 
they pronounced unnecessary. It is not probable that any 
liberal minded man ever denounced the federal party for 
being opposed to the declaration of war. Several repub- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. U$ 

lican members of Congress voted with the federalists in 
opposition to its declaration; it was, however, declared by 
a large majority of the representatives of the people. The 
course of the federalists, generally, as civilians, in oppos- 
ing the measures to carry on the war, was pronounced ex- 
ceptionable by the republicans* The federalists denounc- 
ed the republicans for declaring the war, and the republi- 
cans denounced the federalists for not uniting with them 
in all the measures for its support; and there was no umr 
pire to settle the question between them. The federalists,, 
generally, in and out of Congress, declared their willing- 
ness to support the war if its operations were confined with- 
in the limits of the United States and on the water; but 
were opposed to the invasion of Canada, whilst the enemy, 
in the language of Mr. Webster, was illuminating his 
course by the conflagration of houses and villages on the 
shores of our bays and rivers. On the other hand the 
republicans asserted, (the writer thinks correctly,) that 
sound policy dictated that the war should be carried into 
the enemies country, and that he should be attacked at 
every assailable point; and by invading Canada draw his 
forces from our territory. The federalists, as civilians and 
militnry men, presented a contrast — they fought as bravely 
as did the republicans. The federalists, generally, com- 
manded on the water, and the republicans, general!, on 
land. The Federalists claimed almost every naval victory; 
and their papers frequently, tauntingly, headed an article, 
in capitals: "Another naval victory by a federalist!" 
Although the writer rejoiced at the victery, he did not relr 
ish the caption, which he thought unnecessary; and though 
the writer does not believe that the federalists were as bad 
as they are sometimes represented to have been, yet, it is 
certain that if it was possible for the calander of time to be 
turned back thirty-five years, he would be placed where he 
then was, in the republican ranks, battleing against the fed- 
eralists. Since that time political names have frequently 
changed and politicians have turned summersets; and sinv 
ilar changes in names and measures will continue as long 
as our present form of government lasts and the mind is, 
left free to think and act. 



154 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

The democrats of the present day sometimes say that 
they are a continuation of the old republican party. The 
whig and democratic parties are each "like unto a net that 
was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind." Each 
party is composed of individuals of all classes, good and 
bad, positive, comparative and SUPERLATIVE. 

The only means by which we can arrive at the senti- 
ments of any man upon any subject is by his words spoken 
or written. A man may express sentiments which he 
does not entertain; but this cannot disturb the premises 
laid down. We might as well attempt to hold an agreea- 
ble and important conversation with a dead man as to ar- 
rive at the sentiments of a living man, except by his words. 
We shall now prove by the words of president Jackson 
(his words alone shall be taken,) that, notwithstanding he 
was opposed to the Bank he was an advocate for a Bank 
of a national character. In his first message after expres- 
sing his objections to the Bank — the bank then in exist- 
ence — he adds a paragraph in the following words: — 

"Under these circumstances, if such an institution is 
essential to the fiscal operations of the government, I sub- 
mit to the wisdom of the Legislature whether a national 
one, founded upon the credit of our government and its 
revenues, might not be devised, which would avoid all 
constitutional difficulties; and, at the same time, secure all 
the advantages to the government and country that were 
expected to result jrom the present bank. v 

A few words are emphasised. There cannot be found a 
sentence throughout all his official communications which 
conflicts with the foregoing; if there could, he would con- 
tradict himself; but such is not the case, and his friends should 
not be anxious to place him in that predicament. We next 
examine his veto message, in which he again appears an ad- 
vocate for a National Bank. The second paragraph is in 
the following words: 

"A Bank of the United States is in many respects conve- 
nient for the government and useful to the people. Enter- 
taining this opinion, and deeply impressed with the belief 
that some of the privileges possessed by the existing Bank 
are unauthorised by the Constitution, subservive of the rights 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 155 

of the states, and dangerous to the liberties of the people, I 
felt it my duty, at an early period of my administration, to 
call the attention of Congress to the practicability of organ- 
izing an institution combining all its advantages, and obvia- 
ting these objections. I sincerely regret that, in the act be- 
fore me, I can see none of those modifications of the Bank 
charter which are necessary, in my opinion, to make it com- 
patible with justice, with sound policy, or with the constitu- 
tion of our country." 

Mark his words! "Some of the privileges,' 5 — not all of the 
privileges. Again: "I sincerely regret," &c. His language 
cannot be misunderstood by an intelligent man, nor will it 
be misrepresented or distorted by any who claims to be can- 
did. The writer's respect for the intelligent reader impels 
him to make no further comment on it. 

Towards the close of his message, for the purpose, doubt- 
less, of impressing upon the minds of the people that he was 
in favour of a Bank, president Jackson uses the following 
language: 

"That a Bank of the U. S. competent to all the duties 
which may be required by the government, might be so or- 
ganized as not to infringe on our own delegated powers, or 
the reserved rights of the states, / do not entertain a doubt. 
Had the executive been called upon to furnish the project 
of such an institution, the duty would have been cheerfully 
performed." 

As comment on the foregoing might be considered by the 
reader altogether superfluous, none will be made. It may 
not be generally known that the re-election of president 
Jackson was urged, in some sections of the country, on the 
ground, among other reasons, that, at the next Congress, he 
would propose a project for a Bank — that we would have a 
better Bank, better currency, Sic. The writer would, were 
it not improper, name prominent men now living who zeal- 
ously supported the re-election of president Jackson and as- 
serted that he would communicate at the next session of Con- 
gress a project for a Bank. They were, doubtless, sincere. 
Other Jacksonians objected to the veto on the ground that 
the president expressed sentiments in favour of a Bank. 
The substance of the charges made against the Bank was? 



Itf POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

that it was a great raonied monopoly — an aristocratic and 
rotten institution, worming its way and power throughout the 
Union — bribing and corrupting the people — that, if it was re- 
chartered, it would overturn the government, &c. Agricul- 
turalists have yielded their objections to the teachings of ex- 
perience and, from the evidence of their senses, have adopt- 
ed certain systems. JNot so with the opponents of a Bank 
— it is a party question. What we shall say of the late 
Bank, will apply generally to the first. 

It furnished a sound, uniform and convenient currency 
for all classes of society. In all sections of the Union it 
was equivalent to specie, or at a premium. There was 
frequently a premiam, paid in specie, for its notes; but 
they were never at a discount. The bank received and 
paid out the government funds without charge. It paid 
into the Treasury the government stock at the rate of about 
one hundred and sixteen dollars for every one hundred of 
the original stock — its annual dividends averaged about 
seven per cent. Its sound and useful currency rendered 
it, in the estimation of its opponent, dangerous to the lib- 
erties of the people. Upon the same principle whenever 
a president becomes very popular and his measures found 
highly beneficial to the nation, he ought to be denounced 
an aristocrat, labouring to bribe and corrupt the people, 
and should be hurled from office. All our institutions, 
moral and physical, must be managed by human minds and 
hands. And all that was or could be said of the dangerous 
power of a National Bank, might with equal propriety be 
said of a president of the United States, Suppose that the 
United States should hereafter be involved in a war with 
3 poweiful nation, and the result doubtful, and the presi- 
dent should turn traitor and join the enemy? Would that 
prove that we ought not to have a president, but a king? or 
would it prove any thing against the principles or form of 
our government? The horse and the ox are useful ani- 
mals, and yet men have been killed by the kick of a horse, 
and gored to death by an ox. A power to do good mus* 
carry with it an equal or superior power to do evil. Every 
institution and every individual, without a single excep.- 
fion 3 possesses at least as much power to do evil as to do 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 157 

'good. The power of an institution or sn individual to do 
good, cannot be greater than the power to do evil. But, 
generally speaking, a power to do good increases the power 
to do evil, An ordinary man cannct do much good, and 
yet he could commit a murder or set fire to a town. Be- 
sides, the vetoing of the bank bill has certainly increased 
the power to commit all the evils so much dreaded, and 
which were set fcrth in the veto message in imposing lan- 
guage and good style, as it is certain that rain and snow 
produce freshets — the proof in both cases in equally con- 
clusive, It was the cause of increasing state banks, and 
bank capital, far beyond the capital of the national institu- 
tion; which, after being cut off from the federal govern- 
ment, was adopted by Pennsylvania with a capital of twenty- 
eight millions of dollars— twenty-five millions, at least, 
too much for a state institution, surrounded by other banks. 
'It was burthened by heavy bonuses; and to enable it to use 
its large capital, it had privileges given to it, foreign to the 
legitimate business of banking, and never before, it is be- 
lieved, conferred on any other bank: it might justly have 
been compared to an extensive commercial or trading com- 
pany, and like many other trading houses failed, and the 
stockholders lost, it is believed, all their stock. It has 
sometimes been said that it was the same national bank, 
changed only in name. Upon the same principle when a 
rich man dies, and his esiate passes into the possession of 
his heirs, — it is the same estate managed by its former, but 
deceased owner. The national bank was dead; its large 
estate (capital,) passed from the federal to the state gov- 
ernment of Pennsylvania, and the power of the former and 
its supporters arrayed against it. Without questioning the 
motives of president Jackson, and those who united with 
him in destroying the national bank, their measures are the 
cause of the great increase of banks and the shin-plaster 
currency, which subsequently flooded the country, and the 
rial cause of the loss and distress produced by the failure 
of the iate Pennsylvania U. S. Bank. 

From an official document bearing the signature of pres- 
ident Jackson, dated the ISth of Sept., 1333, and published 
'm the Globe the 23rd of the same month? and in Niles 1 



158 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Register, vol. 45, page 76, we make the following quotation: 
"The funds of the Government will not be annihilated 
by being transferred. They will immediately be issued for 
the benefit of trade, and if the bank of the United States 
curtails its loans, the state banks, strengthened by the 
public deposites, will extend theirs. What comes in 
through one bank will go out through others, and the equi- 
librium will be preserved." 

If, in the foregoing, he did not urge the deposite banks, 
"strengthened by the public deposites," to discount freely 
upon them, it was an official assurance that such a course 
was expected and would be approved. In one or the other 
point of view it presents itself to every sober-minded man. 
But we have further evidence from the same high source. In 
his eighth and last annual message, president Jackson says: 
"It is, besides, against the genius of our free institution* 
to lock up in vaults the treasure of the nation. To take from 
the people the right of bearing arms and put their weapons of 
defence in the hands of a standing army, would be scarcely 
more dangerous to their liberties, than to permit government 
to accumulate immense amounts of treasure beyond the sup- 
plies necessary to its legitimate wants." 

In the same message, strange as it may seem, he uses this 
language: 

"The banks proceeded to make loans upon this surplus, 
and thus converted it into bank capital; and in this manner 
it has tended to multiply bank charters, and has had a great 
agency in producing a spirit of wild speculation. The pos- 
session and use of the property out of which this surplus 
was created belonged to the people; but the government has 
transferred its possession to incorporated banks, whose in- 
terest and effort it is to make large profits out of its use. 
This process needs only be stated to show its injustice and 
bad policy." 

In the first place, president Jackson gave the deposite 
banks to understand, that it was expected of them to loan 
out the deposite money for the benefit of trade. Secondly: 
that it would be almost as wrong not to do so as to with- 
hold arms from the people and place them in the hands of 
a standing army. Thirdly: that to lend out the money is 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 15S 

"injustice and bad policy." Whilst the tongue could not 
utter, nor the mind conceive, greater inconsistency, the 
writer* verily believes that it is wholly attributable "to the 
bad effects of party politics superseding reason and jus- 
tice. Gen. Jackson, in his military career, was brave and 
skilful; he had, then, but one duty to perform — to fight 
for his country: he did so and rendered important services. 
As president, he had two duties to perform: to serve his 
country and his party. Emulated by a laudable ambition 
to serve both, he destroyed a good currency and created a 
bad one. It is a fact that the aveiage dividends paid by the 
deposite banks, were not larger than those of banks which 
never had anything to do with them, but, generally less; 
proof, positive, that the profits made by extending their 
discounts, as advised by Gen. Jackson, did not more than 
pay them for their extra expenses. It is a fact, that they 
received and paid out at their counters the public money 
without charge. It is a fact that, whilst some state banks 
applied for the deposites, others rejused to receive them, 
It is a fact, that no responsible individual would, on his 
own responsibility, receive and pay out the government 
money without receiving compensation. It is a fact, that 
it would be unreasonable to ask an individual or banking 
institution to do so without compensation. And it is a 
fact, that if banking institutions are dispensed with in re- 
ceiving and disbursing the revenue, that large sums will 
frequently be withheld from circulation, additional officers 
required, and, probably, heavy losses by defaulters. 

Immediately after the removal of the deposites, Mr. Taney 
addressed letters to the deposite banks urging them to dis- 
count on the strength of the public deposites. In -a letter? 
dated Oct. 9, 1853, he uses this language: 

"The deposites of the public money will enable you to 
afford increased facilities to the commercial and other class- 
es of the community; the Department anticipates Jrom you 
the adoption of suck a course, respecting your accommoda- 
tions, as will prove acceptable to the people and safe to the 
Government." 

We next offer the following letter at full length frona 
Mr. Woodbury, at that time Secretary of the Treasury: 



160 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

"Treasury Department, Jan. 29, 1837. 
"S. Merrill, Esq., President: 

"In selecting your institution as one of the fiscal agents 
of the Government, I need only rely on its solidity as af- 
fording a sufficient guaranty for the safety of the public 
money entrusted to its keeping, but I confide also in its 
disposition to adopt the most liberal course, which circum- 
stances will admit, towards other institutions. The depos- 
ites of the public moneys will enable you to afford increa- 
sed facilities to the commercial and other classes of the 
community, and the Department antieipaics from you the 
adoption of such a course, respecting c ccommodation, as 
will prove acceptable to the people and safe to the Govern- 
ment* 

"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"LEVI WOODBURY, 
"Secretary of the Treasury. 1 ' 

The above letter was written only about three months 
previous to the first general suspension. We next ask the 
reader to bear in mind that the last sentence of the above 
letter agrees, word for word, and letter for letter, with in- 
structions given by his predecessor nearly four years pre- 
vious, from which it appears that the two Secretaries had 
standing instructions prepared for the banks. The Globe, 
the official paper, of Dec, 1833, exultingly said: 

"The coalition has laboured in vain; every western state 
is about to establish a state bank institution. Ohio, Indi- 
ana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky, are resolved to take 
care of themselves, and no longer depend on the kind 
guardianship of Messrs. Biddle, Clay, &. Co, ,? 

We next lay before the reader tabular statements of the 
number of state banks in the United States from 1792 to 
1837. They will be found convenient for reference, and 
will, it is believed, be useful to that large and respectable 
portion of the community who neither seek nor desire of- 
fice; to that portion, more than to any other, we must look 
to for the preservation of our republican institutions, our 
liberty, and every thing dear to us or worthy of preserva- 
tion. That portion can have no motive to deceive, and 
they will never, knowingly, act wrong. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 161 

The tables are carefully prepared from official docu- 
ments. 

Year, Banks. Capital. 

1792 11 $8,935,000 

1801 32 22,550,000 

1805 75 40,493,000 

1311 88 42,610,000 

1815 157 82,259,590 

1316 246 89,822,422 

1820 307 102,210,611 

1830 329 111,292,268 

gf*1834 506 170,123,788 

§Jhl835 678 193,548,361 

$J-1836 689 316,875,295 

fj-1837 1007 373,421,291 

The four first periods (1792,1801, 1305, and 1311) 

cover the whole duration of the first United States Bank. 

The charter of that institution expired in 181 1, and there 

were then S8 State Banks. The second United States 

Bank was chartered under Mr. Madison, in 1816. In the 

five years that intervened between the expiration of the 

first bank and the chartering of the second, the State Banks 

had increased from 88 to 246, being 158 increase. 

From 1816, the date of the second United States Bank, 
to 1830, when General Jackson had commenced his rig- 
orous attacks upon it — being a period of fourteen years — 
the State Banks increased only from 246 to 329, being 83 
— an average of only six a year. From 1S30 to 1837 — 
seven years— the State Banks had increased 673 (from 329 
to 1007) being an annual average of ninety-seven. 

Take another view : From the Revolutionary war to the 
year 1830 the number of State Banks created was 329; 
and, from 1830 to 1837 the number created was 678. — 
In other words, the policy of General Jackson and Mr. 
Van Buren has given the country more State Banks than 
existed in the whole cf the preceding period of our his- 
tory: yes, more, by 673. 

We beg the reader to examine the foregoing official ta- 
ble, furnished by the Government, leisurely, and to draw 
his own conclusions, Let him notice -that in 1830 there 
L 



1 62 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

were but 329 State Banks; and, that the policy of presi- 
dent Jackson, in the short space of seven years, increased 
them to the number of ten hundred and seven. He 
cannot, then, wonder that the country has been flooded 
with shinplasters, nor can he doubt as to the party measures 
that produced the bank explosions. 

The following table gives a condensed view of the num- 
ber of banks chartered in eleven States, in 1835 and ? S6, 
and their capitals: — 
States. 

Maine, (V. B.) 

Massachusetts, Whig) 

Rhode Island, (V. B.) 

Vermont, (Whig) 

New York, (V. B.) 

New Jersey, (V. B.) 

Pennsylvania, (V. B.) 

Maryland, (Whig) 

Alabama, (V. B.) 

Arkansas, (V. B.) 

Michigan, (V. B.) 
To err is the lot of man, from which none are exempt. 
It was reasonable to have expected that after the policv of 
president Jackson failed to produce a ^better currency" 
which was promised, (no doubt honestly,) that the error 
would have been acknowledged, and a National Bank 
erected; but Mr. Van Buren tried another "experiment,' 7 
and the result is known. It would be difficult if not im- 
possible to ascertain the amount of Bank capital owned by 
each political party, nor is it important; but as the demo- 
cratic party have sometimes charged the whig party with 
being the Bank party, and denounced Banks as arristocratic 
institutions, the following facts may not be unimportant. 
First, one argument used by the whig party in favor of a 
National Bank was, that it would prevent an unwholesome 
increase of State Banks; secondly, the increase of Banks 
in the democratic or Jackson states, was greater than in 
the whig states. 

If, however, there are any institutions in the United 
States more democratic than others, they are positively 



JYo. 
£3 
S3 


Capital. 
$1,600,000 
6,820,000 


S 


350,000 


1 


300,000 


12 
1 


5,250,000 
200,000 


6 
11 

1 


26,700,000 

16,000,000 

5,000,000 


o 

9 


3,000,000 
3,250,000 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 1 63 

Banking institutions. Because, the stock is held by all 
classes of the people, male and female, rich and poor. 
Any man who can raise twenty dollars, or more, can be a 
Bank stockholder; and, if of good character, may be a di- 
rector or president. Besides, but a small portion of Bank 
capital is owned by stockjobbers or brokers, and it would 
certainly be to their interest to abolish all Banking institu- 
tions. But the writer does not charge them with being 
influenced by such motives, nor with being hostile to the 
Banks. It could not be expected that they would vest 
their capital in Banks, which, when in their most flourish- 
ing condition, would only pay them six or seven per cent, 
per annum, and in time of pressure not more, perhaps, 
than two or three per cent., when they can make more by 
shaving paper. Surely stockjobbers and brokers have the 
same right to use their own money in any legal way they 
please, as other persons. The stockjobbers and brokers 
have no right to complain, nor do they complain of the 
democracy for establishing Banks. It is true that all bro- 
kers are not men of large capital; and it is equally true 
that few of them are Bank men, for the reasons previously 
stated. We have brokers in the country with capitals va- 
rying from fifty dollars to fifty thousand; and there exists 
between them exactly the same difference that exists be- 
tween the sparrowhawk and the eagle: the former shaves 
paper in proportion to their capital and at a discount gov- 
erned by circumstances; whilst the sparrowhawk and eagle 
pounce upon game in proportion to their powers of de- 
struction. 

Notwithstanding the democracy extended the Banking 
institutions, so far as to lessen their usefulness, it is doubt- 
ful whether they could be extended so far as to produce as 
great an evil as would certainly follow if (hey were abol- 
ished. In all hard-money countries, without a single ex- 
ception, the wages of labor are from fifty to eighty per 
cent. lower than in the United States, and the price of 
provisions are, upon an average, as high — probably higher, 
and the labouring class subsist on a scanty allowance of 
brown-bread and low, coarse diet. Such would be the 
case in the United States; in the course cf time, if all 
L2 



164 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Banking institutions were abolished. The following is aft 
extract from a speech delivered in the Senate of the Uni- 
ted States by the Hon. W. D. Merrick in January, 1840: — 

"In November, 1833, instructions were sent by the Bri- 
tish Secretary of State, Lord Palmerston, to certain British 
consuls residing abroad, requiring answers to certain ques- 
tions having reference to the state of agriculture, and to 
the condition of the agricultural peasantry within the dis- 
tricts of their consulates. Answers received from the con- 
suls in various parts of France, Germany, the Netherlands, 
and Italy, have lately been presented to Parliament; and 
from these documents the following abstract is taken: 

'•France: Calais, ploughmen, from 100 to 160 shillings 
a year; shepherds, 250 shillings; labourers, 7^ pence a 
day, found board only. Boulogne, ploughman, 144 shil- 
lings a year; labourers, 5 pence a day, without board or 
dwelling. Havre, farm servants, generally, 160 to 24 
shillings a year, and at Brest from 4S to 120 shillings a 
year. Nants, labourers &% pence a day and find them- 
selves. Charante, farm servants, generally, from 60 to 160 
shillings a year. Bordeaux, labourers, from 12 to 15 pence 
a day and nothing found. Bayone, labourers, from 9 to 12 
pence a day, nothing in addition. Marseilles, shepherds, 
from 200 to 240 shillings a year. Corsica, labourers, 11 
pence a day, nothing else. Germany: Dantzig, farm ser- 
vants, from 52 to 64 shillings a year; labourers from \\ to 
7 pence a day, without board but found a dwelling. Meck- 
lenburg, farm servants, 100 shillings a year; labourers, 7 
penca a day, with dwelling but not board. Holstein, farm 
servants, from 73 to 100 shillings a year; labourers, 7 pence 
a day and dwelling but not board. Netherlands: South 
Holland, farm servants, from 200 to 250 shillings a year; 
labourers, from 3 to 4 pence a day and found. North Hol- 
land: Freisland, farm servants, from 50 to 160 shillings a 
year; labourers, from 6 to 16 pence a day and find them- 
selves. Antwerp, farm servants, 78 shillings a year; la- 
bourers, 5 pence a day and find themselves. West Flan- 
ders, farm servants, 06 to 104 shillings a year. Italy: 
Triest, labouiers, from 6 to 12 pence a day and find them- 
selves. Islria, laborers, from 3 to 10 pence a day and find 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 1 65 

themselves; or, 4 to 5 pence a day and found board and 
dwelling. Lombardy, labourers, from 4 to 8 pence a day 
and found. Genoa, farm servants, from 60 to 100 shillings 
a year; labourers, from 5 to 8 pence a day, no board but 
dwelling; or 12 pence a day without board or dwelling. 
Tuscany, farm servants, 40 shillings a year; labourers, 6 
pence a day and find themselves/ 5 All those who worked 
by the year were found in board and dwelling. 

"Now, sir, I am greatly in hopes our people will read and 
ponder over this statement: they will there see that in France 
yearly wages for an able-bodied man, range from 43 to 250 
shillings; and day laborers get in that country from four pence 
half-penny to fifteen pence per day; and whenever they get 
as much as five pence they have to find themselves. In Ger- 
many, wages are still lower, and range by the year between 
52 and 100 shillings, and day laborers receive from A\ to 7 
pence per day, and find themselves in food. In South Hol- 
land, farm hands get from 200 to 250 shillings, and day la- 
borers from 3 to 4 pence per day, and are found. And so 
on, sir. Whoever will take the trouble to examine the state- 
ment, which is official and authentic, will see, that in all 
these countries which are held up to us as such bright ex- 
amples of hard-money countries — Trance, Germany, Neth- 
erlands, Italy — wages by the year for an able-bodied, sound, 
healthy man, nowhere exceed 250 shillings; and, in many 
instances, fall as low as forty, fifty, and sixty shillings; and 
the daily wages range from three pence to nine and twelve 
pence, rising in one place, and only one, to twenty pence, 
and the laborer finding himself! What a commentary upon 
the hard-money policy!" 

The reader is earnestly requested to bear in mind, that 
the average price of provisions in the hard-money countries 
is as high, if not higher, than in the United States. Every 
man who is intelligent upon the subject, and who is an ad- 
vocate for an exclusively hard-money currency, whether 
he calls himself a democrat or a whig, or by whatever cog- 
nomen he may choose to be known, must be an advocate 
for those marked distinctions in society which prevail in 
all hard-money countries. Although such a man is not in 
3 direct and literal sense a cannibal, he can have no other 



1 66 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

regard for the labouring class than that which he has far 
the flesh, fowl, and fish which supply his table. His object 
must be to render poverty and misery hereditary throughout 
the working class, and gormandize on the fruits of their la- 
bour. Every such intelligent politician is, morally, a man- 
eater. Ye men of labour! if we are brought to an exclu- 
sively hard-money currency, there must be the same dis- 
tinctions in society that exist in all hard-money countries 
— those who are poor must be rendered more so, and mis- 
ery and degradation entailed upon them and their posterity* 
Ye labouring men, who are politically honest, do you wish 
the wages of labour reduced to six or eight cents a day, 
to be reduced in comfort, below the beasts of burthen, 
which are generally well fed and housed? Do you wish 
to see the bread, meat, fowl and fish, produced by your 
labour, served on the tables of the rich and potent, and you 
fed upon husks and chaff? If so, vote for those who advo- 
cate an exclusively hard money currency. 

It has been said that Mr. Jefferson pronounced a Nation- 
al Bank unconstitutional. There is not in his inaugural 
address, in his communications to Congress, or in his me- 
moirs, prepared by him for the press a short time previous 
to his death, a sentence in support of such declaration; but 
there can be found positive proof to the contrary, as the 
following: 

b, An Act supplementary to the act entitled an act to incor- 
porate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States: 
Be it enacted, &c, That the president and directors of 
the Bank of the United States shall be and they are here- 
by authorized to establish offices of discount and deposite 
in any part of the territories or dependencies of the United 
States, in the manner, and on the terms, prescribed by the 
act to which this is a supplement. 

"Approved, March 23, 1804. 

"Th. Jefferson." 
To avoid the force of the foregoing, it has been said 
that as a bank was established, Mr. Jefferson could consis- 
tently sanction a bill for a branch, though he believed it 
unconstitutional. Such an argument would scarcely be 
excusable if used by an enemy to Mr. Jefferson; but to. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 16T 

<come from professed friends, is cruel. The real friends 
of Mr. Jefferson ask for proof, before they can believe that 
he pronounced a National Bank unconstitutional. If the 
mother bank was unconstitutional, the children, i. e. the 
branch banks, must have been illegitimates, and two or 
more wrongs cannot make a right. 

The following extracts of a letter from Col. Monroe to 
Silas E. Burrows, dated New York, January 20, 1831, are 
worthy of an attentive perusal. Jt is the language of a man 
whose sound judgment and political integrity and devotion to 
his country were never questioned. Bear in mind the date 
of the letter, being the year previous to president Jackson's 
veto: 

"You ask me what is my opinion of the effect which the 
United States Bank has on the national currency, and as to 
the policy of renewing its charter? What the situation of 
the government without its aid during the late war? What 
its general advantages in regulating exchanges, in facilita- 
ting remittances to individuals, and its general importance? 

"When the old United States Bank was first instituted, [ 
was one of those who voted against it in the Senate. I 
doubted the power of the government, under the Constitu- 
tion, to make such an establishment, and was fearful that the 
influence which it would give to the government over the 
moneyed concerns of the Union would have a very improp- 
er effect upon our free system. The Bank was instituted 
soon after the government was adopted, and at a period when 
the question of the relative powers of the government ex- 
cited great feeling, and divided the Congress of the Union 
into very jealous and violent parties. I was of that party 
which construed the powers of the national government 
strictly, and sought to impose upon it correspondent restraint. 
So far as any change has since taken place in my opinion, 
it has been the result of experience, and prompted by a be- 
lief that such change would give strength to the system, 
and not weaken or endanger it, 

* u The revenue of a government is 
generally limited to certain specified objects, according to 
an estimate for each, and to which it is appropriated. The 
fund raised sometimes falls short of the object. Jt seldom 



1 68 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM . 

exceeds it in any considerable amount. For the want of an* 
appropriation, it must lie idle in the Treasury until appro- 
priated; and if appropriated as a provision — for an emergency 
of war, for example — it must still lie idle in the Treasury 
until that event occurs, or he loaned cut. It could not lie 
idle; the whole nation would revolt against it; and if loan- 
ed out, it might be impossible to obtain it when called for, 
and might even be lost. 

* # * "A National Bank occupies a different 
ground. Connected with the government by its charter 
and its capital, which consists of stock, in which the gov- 
ernment participates in a certain degree, there is no instance 
in which, on principle, there can be a difference of interest 
between them, and many powerful considerations by which 
the interest of the bank must stimulate it to support the 
credit of the government in any situation in which it may 
be placed. If the credit of the stock should sink, the capi- 
tal of the bank would decline in equal degree; the effect of 
which wculd be felt in all its operations. Standing at the 
head of the moneyed operations of the government, it is its 
intermediate agent in making remittances to banks and indi- 
viduals, from which much credit and influence are gained, 
if not profit. It has the means, and may be considered the 
most powerful agent in raising and sustaining tb.e circulating^ 
medium on a par with specie throughout the Union, and of 
elevating the state Banks to that standard, by subjecting them 
to the necessity of reaching and adhering to it, to sustain 
their credit, and even their existence. Let the credit of the 
government sink, and all these advantages are lost. The 
Bank, therefore, from a regard to interest^ is bound to sus- 
tain it. The directors, except the few appointed by gov- 
ernment, are elected by the stockholders, and are amenable 
to them. It. gives its support, therefore, to the government 
on principles of national policy, in the support of which it 
is interested, and would disdain becoming an instrument for 
any other purpose. 

"The view above presented is supported by cxperience> 
and particularly by the events of the war. When the war 
commenced, the government had not the funds which were 
necessary to support it, and was in consequence forced to re- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. IM 

sort to loans which were with difficulty obtained from any 
quarter, even in limited degree, and on unfavourable terms,, 
I have not the official documents before me, and cannot state 
the sources from which any loans were obtained, nor the 
conditions, with the decline of the public credit as the war 
advanced. I well remember, however, that when I was call- 
ed by the president to the Department of War, on 31st Au- 
gust, 1814, the certificates of the Treasury were selling at 
$80 in the $100, by which $20 were lost. 

* # « "This proves that, until the Union is 

threatened with ruin, no loans can be obtained in emergen- 
cies, without a National Bank, otherwise than at a great 
sacrifice. These considerations led to a change in my opin- 
ion, and led me to concur with the president in the propri- 
ety oj instituting such a Bank, after the conclusion of the 
war in 1816. As to the constitutional objection, it formed 
no serious obstacle. In voting against it in the first instance, 
I was governed essentially by policy. The construction I 
gave to the Constitution J considered a strict one. In the 
latter instance, it was more liberal, but according to my judg- 
ment, justified by its powers." 

Candour, political honesty, a sound judgment and studi- 
ous habits were leading traits in the qualifications of presi- 
dent Monroe, and were appreciated by the people. Altho' 
his mind was less brilliant than those of some of the presi- 
dents, he was not surpassed by any in weight of character, 
except, only, the Father of his country, who, for every thing 
great and good, was never surpassed by any man. The tes- 
timony of the Hon. Thomas H. Benton, in support of a Na- 
tional Bank, will here be appropriate. Whenever a man 
voluntarily testifies against himself] he is entitled to cred- 
it for all he says, and the writer hopes that the reader will 
give full credit to the testimony and impartially weigh it. in 
a speech delivered in the Senate of the United States, 14th, 
March, 1838, Mr. B. said: 

ff=* u The second Bank was brought forward, in the ex- 
tremity of their distress, by the republican administration, 
to help them out of the mud and mire of a broken bank- 
currency, and to aid them in the operations of the govern* 
ment"4$ 



170 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

The mud and mire commenced accumulating immediate- 
ly after the rejection of the bill for renewing the first Bank, 
in 1811. What would be said of a man who, after having 
been by a benefactor taken from the "mud and miie" — saved 
by his friend from impending ruin — placed upon solid ground 
■ — would turn against his benefactor and slay him? 

Col. Benton stands at the head of the hard-money por- 
tion of his party, and he shall be heard on that subject. In 
a letter dated Springfield, June 1, 1889, he says: 

"The richest countries in the world, such as Holland, the 
Hanseatic towns, Cuba, &,c , have no paper money at all. 
France has none under one hundred dollars, and England 
has none under twenty-five dollars, and all these countries, 
especially France and the three former, have an overflowing 
abundance of gold and silver, not only enough for their own 
uses, but to lend to all foreign nations, and that at the low 
rate of four or five per cent, per annum." 

The foregoing is, doubtless, as true a statement, as far as 
it goes, as could be given. It is to be regretted, however, 
that the hard-money philanthropist forgot, or had not room 
on his sheet, to state that in those hard-money countries in 
which money is loaned to foreign nations — fj^not to indi- 
vidualsc^J — the gold, silver and copper are locked up in the 
vaults of the government and the pockets of the officers of 
state and a comparatively few wealthy individuals more or 
less connected with the government; that the labouring class- 
es, constituting the majority, have to work from twelve to 
sixteen hours each day, at wages sufficient only to sustain 
life on low and coarse diet, and are reduced to the lowest 
grade of ignorance, poverty and servility; that few have a 
sous in their pockets on Monday morning, and that that will 
certainly be the case in the United States, should it become 
a hard-money country and have money to lend to ''foreign 
nations at four or Jive per cent. In the United States, as 
yet, the money belongs to the great body of the people, and 
circulates among them; in all the hard-money countries, the 
money is owned by the few; the manij can only sustain life 
by hard labour. 

The sentiments of mankind are formed, in whole or to a 
great extent, from circumstances, A hard-money philan- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 171 

thropist, standing with his arms gracefully folded, beholds 
a teamster seated on a horse, w*th a whip in his hand, driving 
and governing a team of horses harnessed and drawing a 
loaded car: the strength of one of the horses is many times 
greater than that of the driver, yet the animals are harnessed 
and well broken to servility, and the crack of the whip pro- 
duces obedience. So, in a hard-money country, an officer 
or nobleman stands with a sword or whip in his hand: the 
labouring classes are unarmed, uneducated, ignorant of their 
rights, and in many cases so degraded as to have no other 
ambition than to obey their oppressors. If the great body 
of the people of the United States, who are intelligent, who 
neither seek or desire office, whose honest principles are in a 
line with their interest, who have no motive to deceive, and 
whose hearts, if examined, would not present a speck of 
dishonesty, do not select representatives with strict regard 
to measures, competency, faithfulness and honesty, it is more 
than probable that we shall soon be blessed or cursed with 
a hard-money currency and the government have money to 
lend to "foreign nations at four or five per cent, per annum," 
and the labouring classes and their posterity reduced to a 
level with the labouring classes of other hard-money coun- 
tries. 

The number of Banks should be limited as near as possi- 
ble to the most useful point, avoiding the extreme. If there 
was danger that the fulcrum and lever power of the late 
Bank would overturn the government, its destruction, which 
gave rise to five hundred additional Banks, greatly increased 
the danger apprehended. The Philistinessucceeded in cap- 
turing Samson, but it was to them a dear victory; and in 
their attempt to degrade him and make sport, they exposed 
their folly. Just so with the late Bank. The policy flood- 
ed the country with a vicious currency, generally called "shin- 
plasters." Instead of rebuilding the tower, an opposite ex- 
periment — the Sub-Treasury — was recommended, honestly, 
no doubt, but which, if carried out, would have certainly 
brought us to a hard-money currency, as that currency 
only was to be received in payment of dues to the govern- 
ment, after a specified time. The money collected could 
not be paid out until appropriated and called for; consequent- 



172 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

]y, large sums would frequently be locked up, withheld from 
circulation, and no equivalent circulated in its place. Against 
the operation of such a policy the people "would revolt;" 
it could only be enforced by military power, and could not 
be carried into operation and continued long through the 
ballot-box. Jf the principle which destroyed the Bank — 
its power — was carried out, the whole human family would 
commence assassinating each other, on the ground of self- 
preservation. Everyman possesses the power to commit 
murder, but it does not follow that every man possesses a 
disposition equal to his power to assassinate. It is to the 
interest of a National Bank to support the^ government, as 
certainly as it is to the interest of the farmer to cultivate his 
land. Mr. Monroe's objection to a National Bank, in the 
first place, was that it would make the government too strong 
— not that it would weaken it. Experience proved to him 
that the government and the people required such an insti- 
tution, and, in the true spirit of a philanthropist, he yielded 
to the teaching of experience. 

Where there are no maximum laws, the produce of the 
earth and the wages of labour are, generally, as much the 
standards by which the value of depreciated paper is fixed 
as is the specie standard. If, for instance, we had a paper 
currency, depreciated ten, twenty, thirty per cent., or more, 
below the specie standard, it would, generallj, be about 
as much depreciated below the standard. of wages or the 
\ 7 alue of produce. As the depreciation is gent-rally grad- 
ual, if the circulation is rapid, and the paper depreciates 
fifty percent, below par, taking specie, wages of labour, or 
produce, as the standard, no individual, probably, would 
lose more than from one to two per cent, during its down- 
ward value, except those only who had no immediate use 
for it; such as merchants and others who have payments to 
make every three or six months, &c. But those who re- 
ceived it in small sums, and immediately passed it off in 
the payment of small debts, in the purchase of provisions 
or other necessaries, would seldom sustain a real loss of 
more than one or two per cent., and might be benefitted 
to an equal or greater extent in the facility of procuring 
it, JT-ot so with merchants and others who had to keep 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 173 

il on hands for months, some of whom would make such 
long steps in descending the ladder as to break their necks, 
whilst others would descend with ease and safety. When 
down to a minimum its comparative value would be settled 
and the holders could not lose, but might gain by an ad- 
vance in its value. 

Soon after the declaration of war, in 2812, the Banks 
generally suspended specie payments — a few of the eas- 
tern banks were the only exceptions, and they, generally, 
withdrew their notes from circulation. The amount of 
specie in the country was generally estimated at sixty- five 
millions, and many believed that the actual amount was 
Jess. The government resorted to direct taxation, issuing 
of treasury notes, and loans to raise money to support the 
war; all of which was received in paper, with few excep- 
tions, an;- ii comparatively small sums. The ascertained 
deb' c T the war, on the last day of Sept., 1815, 

was a lit! >ver eighty-five millions, and the claims of 
Massachusetts and other states, which were afterwards 
presented and allowed, swelled the amount several millions 
of dollars. Now if the government had wholly rejected 
paper money, and dealt wholly in coin, the collection of 
the direct tax would have produced general distress and 
wide-spread ruin, a;3d it is doubtful whether it could have 
been co lected in coin by any possible means. And to 
have raised loans amounling to nearly ninety millions of 
dollars in specie could not have been effected by any means. 
Notwithstanding the loss on the discount upon treasury 
notes, which were exchanged for bank paper, the high rate 
of interest paid on loans of paper money, it was much bet- 
ter than to have distressed and ruined a brave and patriotic 
people in a fruitless attempt to raise the necessary sums 
of money in coin. The entire national debt after the con- 
clusion of the late war, including the debt at its commence- 
ment, was about one hundred and thirty millions. In 1816 
a national bank was established, affording a paper curren- 
cy equivalent to specie, and sometimes at a premium; the 
state Banks were kept, within wholesome bounds, until a 
war was waged against the National Bank; and, in about 
twenty years after the conclusion of the war, the whole 



H4 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

national debt was paid off without producing pressure. 
Can any unprejudiced man believe that such benefits and 
blessings could have been produced without the aid of 
banking institutions? Compare the condition of our coun- 
try, when we were overwhelmed with suspensions, with the 
condition of hard-money countries, and the comparison will 
be in favor of the United States, almost beyond the power 
of description. Next compare the currency and condition 
of our country during the existence of the late National 
Bank with that of hard-money countries, and, if the mind 
can act free from prejudice, the difference in favor of the 
United States may be conceived, in proportion to our im- 
agination and senses, but cannot be accurately described. 
Money is represented as the sinew of war, and indispen- 
sable for the support of government in peace or war. But, 
if we restrict the term money to coin, it is not indispensa- 
bly necessary in all countries, either to maintain a war or 
to support government. In point of fact, there is no more 
intrinsic value in gold than in iron. The value attached 
to gold is attributable, principally, to its scarcity. Gold 
is less portable than paper, and, in many cases, is inconve- 
nient; but it is less destructible, and its comparative scar- 
city has rendered it more valuable than iron. If the for- 
mer were as abundant as the latter, iron would be the more 
useful, and would, consequently, be of more value than 
gold. 

A paper currency carried the patriots of America through 
the Revolution; and paper was almost the exclusive cur- 
rency in the United States during the last war. As the 
United States produce a superabundance of provisions, 
arms, ammunition, and every thing necessary for clotlung 
and equipping the military on land and sea, the government 
could prosecute a war with any nation whatever, with as 
great effect, if there were not a single piece of coin within 
the limits of the country, as it could do if in possession of 
the desired amount of coin; but not without inconvenience. 
The amount of paper issued by the government, under such 
circumstances, and not returned to the government in the 
payment of taxes or debts, would constitute the amount of 
the national debt, Specie is the standard; gold and silver 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 175 

are only recognized by the Constitution as a lawful tender 
in individual business transactions, and the writer would be 
as much opposed as any man to making anything but spe- 
cie a lawful tender, except under extreme cases, required 
as the only means of preservation. Under such circum- 
stances, the government would be justifiable in resorting 
to, and enforcing, a paper currency, upon the principle of 
a loan, to be liquidated by coin or its equivalent. 

The writer will not assert that banking institutions could 
be so organized as to render temporary suspension impos- 
sible under all circumstances; nor that a house could be so 
built as always to resist the elements; but he does say the 
former can be so organized as to render suspensions im- 
probable, and the redemption of their notes in specie or 
its equivalent, without loss to the holder, as certain as any 
result produced by human agency. 

Banks are necessary and convenient to all classes of the 
people, and enable men of small capital to compete with 
individuals of large capital, and check, if not wholly over- 
come, the power of wealthy individuals over the communi- 
ty. Banks are as necessary to preserve our republican 
form of government in its purity, and to perpetuate that 
wholesome mutation by which property is daily passing 
from those who were born rich to those who were born 
poor, as is food necessary to support life. It is true that 
we cannot live without food, but we can live without Ba ; nks, 
as is proven that people do live in the hard-money coun- 
tries spoken of by Colonel Benton. But it is not true that 
the people in those hard-money countries live under re- 
publican governments, and that property is daily passing 
from those who were born rich to those who were born 
poor, and that all property changes owners every fifteen or 
twenty years as is the case in the United States. A glut- 
ton who had become sick by over-eating, and who would 
resolve never to eat again, would not act more absurd than 
do those who, having by imprudent measures increased 
Banks so far as to produce temporary evils, attempt to an- 
nihilate them. Reason and moderation are preferable to 
extremes and extravagance. 



